


Twilight in the Morning

by MeEdits2Much



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Adventure, F/M, I Don't Even Know, I like quests, My First Fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23309278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeEdits2Much/pseuds/MeEdits2Much
Summary: After the events of Twilight Princess, Link must return the Master Sword to it's rightful place. However, he finds it's not as easy as it seems.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

## Pink Clouds

Someone in town was sick. The smell of vomit wafted through his open window. It filled his house like air filling a balloon. 

Link turned over and tried to go back to sleep. Some child from the village was sick. He could almost smell her scent.

Wait. 

Beth. Yup, that was the one. He could even tell what she had for dinner. 

_Yuck,_ he thought and turned over. “Why am I even thinking about this?” He shouted in frustration. Beth had parents who would take care of her. Why couldn't he stop thinking about it. “Go back to sleep!”

The smell filled his nose and burned. 

Link tried to cover his nose with his hands, but breathing through his mouth made his mouth dry. He turned in his bed, shoving his sensitive sniffer into the mattress. 

It was no use, the smell of sick permeated everything. Every breath was full of the sting and stink of vomit. After half an hour of tossing and turning, he got up to get a drink. 

It was very dark in his corner of the village, but he knew his home and he moved through it like it was daytime. He took some water from his pitcher and sat, seeing nothing, but seeing everything.

30 days. It had been 30 days since he had last been a wolf. Why was his nose acting this sensitive? Did the transformation back to Hyrulian not complete itself this time? Did he still have claws and a tail? He set his drained cup on the table. Nah, he was just paranoid.

Link pulled on an undershirt and opened his front door. Morning was opening her petals. Light was starting to outline the trees. The birds were already chirping and the squirrels were already swearing at each other. His work on the farm would begin in an hour or so, but the sunrise was worth a look. 

Since the Leaving Day, he had always made time to look at the sunset, which made it hard some mornings to get up by sunrise. He missed seeing the world wake up. The birds were always first, with the flowers and grass rising to meet the sun right behind them. Today’s sunrise was especially spectacular, with pink smears spreading across the sky. 

Link saw the pink as a farmer would see it. Pink meant clouds, clouds this time of year meant rain. Rain meant no horrible smells waking him up in the middle of the night, but the smell of air and lightning and growing things. Pink skies meant that he could pretend to be normal for another day. 

Link went back in, got dressed, made himself a quick bread pudding, and grabbed a bag of mint he had found from the forest. He hesitated for a minute when he saw his sword by the fireplace. 

Should he take it? 

His fingers twitched for the hilt.

What would he need it for?They had other defenses, other swordsmen in the village. He was just working the farm today.

Logic won, and he left the house without it. However, he kept his stone in a pouch around his throat.

He stopped at Beth’s door. Yup, this was definitely the house. He knocked softly twice.

The door creaked slightly and an exhausted Hanch opened the door. He rubbed his eyes.

“Yes? It’s early Link. I don’t have anything for you. I don’t have anything for anybody. My wife, Sera is asleep, like most smart people around here. You should be going to ask someone else. Like your friend Illa. She probably has something. Oh, but she’s not here.” He was rambling, his words sluggish and run together.

Link held out the leaves opening their bag so he could get a good look. “It’s for Beth Hanch. Make a tea with these, they should help her tummy a bit.”

The man seemed to stare through the bag for a bit as he contemplated what was being said. Link nudged it towards him, and he finally took it. 

Link turned and walked away. Things finally clicked.

“But Link, how did you know Beth was sick?”

The goats were obnoxious this morning. None of them wanted to leave the barn. As soon as he got a hold of one and threw it out into the pasture, the others he had just wrangled would slip back in.

“Fine, you buggars, just stay there.” He said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

Fado scratched his head from his spot on the ground. He’d given up long before Link. “Normally, they can’t wait to get outside.”

“Yeah, it’s odd. This entire day has felt a bit off. Maybe a storm is coming. I did see some clouds earlier. Though a bit of rain has never really stopped them from coming out before.” He gave one last tug on one of the Ordon Goat’s horns. It complained loudly and wiggled until Link let go and watched as it trotted back into the shelter.

“Well, we’ll just leave some hay near the entrance and see if they’ll come out later.”

They went to gather some from the shed, hauling the bundles one by one. They worked quietly, relishing in the physical labor and letting their thoughts wander.

“Where’s Epona today?” Fado asked, “usually you two can’t be separated.”

Link heaved a bale and cut the twine surrounding it. He spread the hay, giving a brave goat, who poked her head out to look at them, a mouthful. He patted her head before she rushed back inside.

“Oh, Illa has been riding her lately. She wanted to go to Castle Town, and I loaned her to her. I guess there’s someone she’s teaching to ride over there.” He avoided looking Fado in the eyes. 

“Heeey, You mean?”

“Don’t give me that Fado. We’re still friends.” Link played with the twine, twisting it in his hands. “She just needed… more.” He rubbed the back of his head with his spare hand. 

“Well, you’re still young. You probably have a lot to figure out. Emotions can be so confusing sometimes.” Fado brushed his hands. “That should do it. I guess we only have a few repairs and you can have the rest of the day off.”

Link thought about his drawings that he intended to finish soon, and the sword… he needed to do something about the sword.

Suddenly, someone was running up the pathway. Link could see that it was Colin, taller than when Link had returned after the Leaving Day. He had a growth spurt, and could now help his mother and father with more difficult tasks. He was always wearing his training sword. It was at his side as he came up the hill, waving his arms and shouting.

“Link! Link! I swear we didn’t do it!” He yelled, uncharacteristically panicky.

“Calm down, what happened?” Link immediately scanned the road for danger or enemies. His muscles and senses queued to react to threats.

“Someone has broken into your house. It’s a mess in there!” Colin breathed hard from the run up the hill. “I think some of your cool things you brought back were taken. I don’t know what though.”

“Thanks Colin.” Link yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted away from the ranch. It was the Master Sword. Link could feel it.

Link cursed himself harshly. He should have put it back once they said ‘goodbye’ to Midna on Leaving Day. He would never forgive himself if he lost it. Out of the long line of heroes who had used the legendary sword, including his mentor, what if he were the one to blow it? He could visualize the disappointment in the warrior’s eye. He didn’t need to hang onto a weapon so powerful anymore. The powers of evil were sealed away once more. There was no more darkness to defeat. The sword was no longer needed. Why did he not put it back?

He ran down the path, wishing he had his wolf speed, or Epona so that he could get there faster. 

The first thing he saw was his door lying on the ground. His drawings were ripped apart and strewn across the room, a painful carpet of his work, thrown to the wind. One of them was pinned to his table with a dagger. It was a more recent one of him as a wolf, howling in pain. The tip of the weapon was through the heart of the wolf in the picture.

The master sword was gone from its place by the hearth. Link felt two emotions at once, one told him to sink into the floor, and the other to go punch a hole in something. Thankfully, his logic won over both of these, and he looked around for more clues. There had to be a reason for the theft. Who would know his secret? Who would know he had the sword? He was stumped.

He searched the house some more. 

The chest he had hidden away with all of the treasures and tools from his adventure in his dark basement was gone. With it went his boomerang, bow, clawshot, and many other little trinkets he had picked up along the way. At least the thief didn’t find his secret journal with his maps and secrets he had gathered. Link climbed his ladder, feeling useless and violated. His home had been his safe place. His hand twitched closer to the bag at his throat. It would be so easy to find the culprit with his wolf nose. Just one sniff of a scent and he would have the items back.

No, he couldn’t. Without the master sword or Midna, he didn’t have the ability to turn back. As much as the wolf was useful, he enjoyed being a human more. Hands were good for so many things. 

As he climbed up the ladder, he noticed something he hadn’t seen on his first pass. It was a leaf.

He bent over and immediately knew who the thief was.


	2. Silence is Golden, but Snow is White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We really aren't sure what Link thinks he's doing trying to have an adventure without Midna helping him think logically. Hang on, he'll get there eventually, though he may make some questionable choices.

“Hey Link, did you find out what happened?” Colin had arrived, and brought with him half of the village. Including Rusl, Talo, and Fado who should have been watching the goats. They all picked their way through the disaster that was Link’s house.

“Yeah,” he said, tapping the leaf against his palm. “I think I did.” He threw the leaf back onto the ground. 

“Oh what a mess.” One of the other villagers cried, once everyone had a look all around. There was no sense of privacy when there was something interesting going on.

"Do you always keep it this way Link?" One of the kids teased.

"Shut up Malo," Talo said.

Link was done thinking. It was time to do what he did best.

“I’ll tell you what Colin. Would you look after my home for a bit?” He placed a hand gently on the younger boy’s shoulder. “I need to go somewhere to take care of something. It might take some time, and I need a place to come back to.”

Rusl eyed him suspiciously. “Now what would the hero, Link, need to be doing after his house got ransacked. Surely, he wouldn't go rushing into danger?” Nothing got past the swordsman. “What did they take Link?”

Link held his hands wide. “They took everything Rusl. Well, everything I’d gotten during the invasion. For some reason they didn’t think my pictures were good enough. I’m a bit hurt about that.  I thought I was getting better." 

The teen pulled the dagger out of the wolf picture on the table. "You can see what they thought of this one.” He shook his head. “Everyone gets critical when it comes to art.”

Rusl picked up a drawing of a shadow beast. “Could it have been the shadow enemy? Did those creatures come back? Are we in danger again? Should I find the Resistance? I’m not sure where to find Shad or Ashei. I haven’t seen them since they went into those woods.” Rusl, on edge, looked ready to pull a sword out then and there.

“No, no, I’m pretty sure there’s no way the shadow creatures can come back.” Link glanced into the sky, almost hoping. “Nope, this was from our Hyrule.” 

“Link they left something! It’s here, they didn’t take it!”

Colin had gone in the mess and had pulled out a fishing pole. He came eagerly up to Link and handed him the pole. It was unhurt, save for a few tangles in the line. Colin rocked back and forth on his heels as he observed Link with pride.

“It’s my best one I’d ever made. You might need it. You should take it with you.”

Link laughed. “Yup Colin, it has come in useful in the past. I’m sure I could use it again.” 

Colin dove back into sorting through the junk on the floor.

“Hey Link, why do you need an alphabet reader?” Malo asked holding up the book. "It looks brand new."

“Ookay, that’s enough, everyone needs to leave now. I’m going to pack a few things and head out.” He grabbed the book from a smirking Malo and shoved him out the door. 

He stopped Colin before the boy left, “but I still need you to watch my house, ok?”

“Alright Link.” 

It took him another hour to pack before he was ready to go. Despite the chest being stolen, he still had a few necessary tools that he needed for roughing it in the woods. Especially since the canine option was gone. He packed gloves, food, rope, fire starter, bedding, a notebook and charcoal, and put on his nice worn-in boots. The green tunic was gone with the chest, so he just wore the work clothes he had on. The only weapon he had was the dagger that had been left on his table.

Food was a bit of a problem. He didn’t want to stop for hunting and foraging and he didn’t know how long he’d be gone. The bread would last a few days, but the goat cheese would carry a bit longer. He found a jar of honey that hadn’t been knocked down in the theft and picked up carrots, turnips, and potatoes, where they had been scattered on the floor.

It would have to do. He’d be hungry in a few days, but he hoped he would be finished retrieving the sword by then.

Link said his farewells and the hero began the long hike to the Lost Woods.

“I miss Midna,” Link thought for the hundredth time as he scaled the cliff. His bag weighing heavily on his back. His foot slipped and he felt his heart drop as he scrambled for a hold. He hung in place for a minute, not wanting to think of the fall at the bottom of the misty cloud. He remembered being a wolf and feeling the magic lift him abruptly, but gently from spot to spot. All he had to do was let Midna know where he needed to be, and he could make the jump. 

Eventually he hit a rhythm in his climbing and started feeling a rush of clarity. He began to talk to himself, “the past can be like that fetter on my wolf foot sometimes.” He huffed. It sounded poetic, and he liked it. He kept going with the thought, “thinking how things used to be has just slowed me down. I can’t move on. Now it’s gotten me into trouble, because I should’ve returned the sword. From now on I will try to focus on the problem at hand.” Link swelled with determination and purpose.

“You talk to yourself a lot.” An eerie voice sang from above. Link immediately knew who it was. There was only one creature in all of Hyrule that sounded like that.

“Oh Cucco,” Link swore, quickly trying to find a place to hide on the open cliff face. He looked up and saw the round head and splayed limbs of the Skull Kid.

“Let’s play a game called dodge the rocks.” The Skull Kid sang and he threw rocks at Link. The rocks mostly missed, but a few found their mark.

“Stop! No! I don’t want to play this game. This is a bad game!” A rock hit Link hard on the side of the head, and he immediately felt a liquid ringing. “Ouch.” he hollered. “That’s it. You’re going to get it.”

The skull kid giggled, excited that the game was on, and then he saw how fast Link was climbing up the cliff.

“Nope. You won’t get me!” The creature turned and ran off into the forest.

Link pulled himself up the last few feet and sat panting. His head throbbed. Putting on hand gingerly up to his temple, he felt a growing, tender bump.

“I’ll kill him. I swear that thing is dead.” He stood up and came face to face with one of the skull kid’s creepy puppets. It’s expressionless head rolled around until it was hanging upside down. 

Link took a step back and then squared himself. He'd fought these before, no problem. Then again, he'd never fought these before without teeth or sword before, so there was that.

“Hello gorgeous. You don’t happen to have my sword do you?” Link asked as the puppet raised it’s hand and whipped it down, pounding the teen on the shoulder before he could react. 

The hero had been injured by enemies before. He had the scars from hundreds of skirmishes and a few old wounds that bothered him from time to time. He never thought he’d be knocked off his feet by a glorified stick. A creepy, glorified stick. It was undignified.

Before he could get to his feet, The puppet had grabbed him by his leg and began to pull him towards a tunnel of trees. His pack slipped off his back, and was left behind. Link twisted onto his belly, in an attempt to get loose. He tried kicking at the puppet, but nothing seemed to loosen the hard woody grip on his ankle. His hand reached for the transformation stone under his shirt, but he stopped. If he activated it and turned into a wolf, there was a big chance that he wouldn’t be turning back anytime soon.

Before he could make the decision, his head thumped into a root, and he saw stars. Two head injuries in a short amount of time. That made him angry. 

“Let me go you piece of firewood! I’d like to cook my dinner on you, you wood-beetle’s lunch, you worm’s nest, you woodpecker’s hole!” He thrashed about, finally landing a kick that splintered the puppet’s leg. It took a few wobbly steps then halted and turned around.

“Awww man, I’m sorry about the woodpecker bit, but you have to admit, you are a bit wooden.”

The puppet tightened his grip on Link’s leg and turned back onto the path, one splintered leg making it walk like it would fall apart at any second. 

Link gave up and let himself be dragged. He’d escape from wherever the puppet put him. He’d gotten out of just about anywhere at this point. Castles, dungeons, grottos, mazes, you name it, he’d done it. The hero was brilliant at physical puzzles. He was stuck for now, but not for long. He dragged his arms behind him, occasionally grabbing a root or a rock, and not making it any easier on the puppet, but saving his energy for later.

After about half an hour of being dragged, they finally reached their destination. The puppet dropped him and Link scrambled off of the ground.

“Nice buddy, next time, just ask. Maybe I’ll follow you. Sheesh.” Link brushed himself off.

The puppet stood there waiting, it’s head falling and rattling every few seconds. It seemed to have finished its purpose and wanted nothing more to do with Link.

Where did it drag him though? He was now in a meadow that was more open than any of the other meadows he’d seen in the Faron woods. He was sure that he’d never visited it as a wolf anyway. A family of deer ate at the far end, and fat game birds fluttered near a tree. Link could smell the skull kid, though he wasn’t sure if it was an old smell or a far away smell. The wolf inside him seem to stir and he felt like running free exploring and uncovering every burrow and turning every log. He shook the feral feeling away. 

Then he heard a familiar blat of the skull kid’s odd flute. Honestly, it sounded like a noisemaker you might give a child rather than an instrument, but it had an odd effect on the puppet. The monster gave a jerk, and collapsed abruptly, as though the strings above it had been severed. There was a pause and then the wooden creature burst into a thousand shards, pieces scattering across the meadow. The deer were no longer around.

“Ugh, I have pieces of puppet all over me,” Link groaned pulling splinters from his fingers. Brushing it off of him, he started as the Skull Kid suddenly appeared inches away from his chest, vivid eyes gaping up into his. Link gulped away his surprise and horror at the unexpected speed of the skull kid. He tried to not let his nerves show. These guys had a serious problem with personal space.

“ I… ahem, noticed that you’ve visited my house.” Link tweezered wood dust nonchalantly off of his clothing.

Skull kid’s smile widened.

“So, do you want to give me my sword back? It really doesn’t belong to you.” Link positioned his body like he was going to face a Goron in a wrestling match. In reality, any unexpected monster was more nerve wracking than getting knocked out of the ring by one of those rock people and the skull kid was unpredictable. Even getting in a ready stance didn't make Link feel that secure. The Skull Kid’s stare went right through him, his mask-like face unable to give any signals put Link’s nerves on end. He preferred evil smiles and maniacal laughter to his villains.

Skull Kid shook his head. “You left her. Shiny metal. She is alone now. Now she has friends. She will never be harmed again.”

“You don’t understand Skull Kid.” Link threw up his hands. “Zelda told me that the world will always cycle, and there will be darkness threatening us. It’s happened since before Hyrule was a place. You see, there’s three of us, like the Triforce, and we are all supposed to balance each other out. There’s wisdom, she keeps order and with that order comes humanity. When everything makes sense and has a place, then we can be at peace. Then there’s power, he keeps the world growing, changing, dying and on edge and sometimes he does it too much, which turns into chaos. To balance out the chaos there’s courage. That’s supposed to be what I did. I balanced the others. That job is nearly impossible, except with the sword. It seals the really bad things away… for a time anyway. It has to be kept safe for the next time it happens, which I hope is not when I’m around, because I’ve had enough of monsters and wannabe kings threatening my life. I just want to live my life in peace. Maybe learn to shoot my bow a bit better.” He pointed at Skull Kid, “ I also want that back by the way. It’s a good bow.”

Skull Kid blew hard on his instrument, and a new puppet appeared. “You talk too much. I no listen.” He laughed and thrust his arm out, directing the puppet.

This time, Link dodged out of the way as the monster came at him. He pulled out his puny dagger, and then thought better of it and put it back. A dagger wasn’t going to do anything against this enemy. He dodged as it tried to hit him and ended up behind it. He put the monster in a hold, and using his weight he threw it across the meadow. At least he still had his strength and the puppet was lighter than it seemed. The puppet landed high up in an evergreen tree and got tangled in the branches. 

Link wiped his palms on his trousers. “Yup still got it.” The puppet fell out of the tree in a broken mess.

“Pffft. I go easy on you.”

“I’m warning you Skull Kid. I’m obligated to take care of that sword. You can’t keep it. It doesn’t belong to you.”

Skull kid raised his flute. “I done hearing you. You done talking.” He played a few notes that sounded much different from his puppet noise. It actually sounded like a song. The music formed a thick cloud that quickly blew into Link’s face and lungs.

The farm boy ducked his head and coughed, tasting magic. That wasn’t good. He flailed around, trying to escape the mist and found Skull Kid giggling on the other side of it.

_ What? _ He meant to say, but no sound emerged.  _ What did you do? _ He yelled at the mischievous imp, but yet again, his voice yielded nothing. 

That was enough. Link charged full on, tackling the Skull Kid and ended up on top of him. The imp scrambled around, trying to wiggle away, his creepy smile never leaving his face.

_ Give me back my voice! _ Link shouted in silence as the Skull Kid chortled. Link seized hold of the creature’s flute and pulled it away. This seemed to do the trick. The forest creature’s grin disappeared and he reached desperately for his instrument, but Link held him back with the other hand.

“No fair! That’s mine.” Skull Kid sulked.

Link sat up and nodded.  _ Yeah _ . He mouthed and grimaced. He’d have to gesture to get his point across. He was never that great at charades.

_ You _ , he pointed,  _ give me what is mine! _ He pointed back at himself.

“You want your sword?” 

Link nodded. 

“Ok, but we play fun game again.”

Link thought for a minute. What game was he talking about, Skull Kid couldn’t be talking about when he and Midna chased him through the forest, finally ending up in the Sacred Grove and the Forest Temple? He wanted to play chase again? Was that all? 

He pointed at his throat and to Skull Kid’s flute.

_ Give me my voice. Then we play. _

Skull Kid shook his head. “Nope, only I get to talk. You are a wolf and you find me. Wolves don’t talk.”

Link got off the Skull Kid, still clutching the instrument. The Skull Kid only wanted to play again? It couldn’t be that simple.

“We play, but you have to be wolf.” The Skull Kid sniggered annoyingly. “Change. I know you can.” He pointed at the pouch that had come out from under his shirt.

This again. This was the tricky part. He wasn’t going to risk getting stuck as a wolf. Especially with a cliff in the way of him getting back home. Again, he had no Midna to help with those jumps. Link shook his head and mouthed,  _ NO WAY _ .

“No Wolf, no voice and NO sword.”

Link’s hand went to the pouch at his throat. If he didn’t do it, he would be voiceless forever. On the other hand, if he did do it, he could be a wolf forever, stuck in the forest and just as voiceless. He didn't want either choice.

Then he thought of a third. There was always a third choice.

_ "No _ _play._ " Link mouthed and then turned and ran.

Link later looked back at his logic at this moment and knew that he could and maybe should have taken a different tactic. However, it wasn’t the first time he’d made a tactical retreat. He had fought many other monsters that were bent on killing him on their terms, but backing away from the situation sometimes gave him greater insight into how they moved and fought. Running away wasn’t always cowardice. Besides, he had Skull Kid’s flute, and technically Skull Kid couldn’t use the sword, or even really draw it from the sheath. It probably was as safe as Skull Kid claimed. He would be back when he felt better prepared. 

He sprinted back the way he came, following the gouges in the dirt he’d scraped when he’d been dragged by the puppet. The broken branches made it easy for him to follow the pathway back. He didn’t look behind him, just sprinting for what he was worth.

_ Ha!  _ He shouted, soundless. There was always another choice.

Behind him, he heard a desperate cry. “No! Give it back!”

Thankfully, the Skull Kid was slow.

Link reached the cliffside and saw his pack. He tore through it, pulling out the rope and tying it to a tree. He slid down, thankful for his gloves. 

At the base of the cliff he continued to run. For at least half an hour, he continued, not knowing if anything was behind him. Finally, he slowed to a walk, his heart beating rapidly. 

He studied the instrument in his hand. Rolling it around to examine the various markings.

It was not a flute, like the farm boy had first called it, or any other instrument he’d ever seen before. Though it had one mouthpiece, it had many other bells spreading outwards at the end, like multiple pedals on a flower.

Link played with the valves, noticing that they stopped the air from going to the different endings. One of them had to call the puppets, one of them caused the magical mist. Perhaps if he got the right one, he could get his voice back? But which valve?

He pressed one down and slowly blew into the instrument. 

It emitted a low keening sound and suddenly there were clouds overhead and a cold breeze blew through the trees. Snow began to blow in between the branches. Link shivered. They hardly ever got snow in the Faron Woods. Crap. It was the wrong valve. That wasn't supposed to happen. Maybe playing again would get rid of the clouds?

He put it up to his lips and blew again. 

Instantly, the snow began to blow harder, starting to form little piles on the leaves. The wind stung his face.

_ I should’ve waited until Zelda could look at this. _ He said with words only he could hear. 

He began to jog again through the blizzard, wondering how far the blizzard had reached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Link turned a bit into Elsa I guess. Not too much, though because he's not going to be singing and show stopping tunes any time soon. (Now I need art of Link as Elsa... well, maybe I don't need it. Take it back!!!)
> 
> Got this out earlier than I thought, though. Happy isolation! The next chapter might not be as early.  
> This is fun... in a heart gripping sort of way. I never really thought I'd ever get anything out, even though I've thought about it. Thanks for reading this anyway, and for you guys who left me the little heart kudos, kudos back to you!


	3. Wrong Time of the Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where hypothermia is a possibility, and Link finds that he's made some very questionable choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this. I've got some good stuff down the pipe coming, I just need to get some more hours to write. As it is, I'm staying up way too late to get anything on this. I should have a break next week, so we might see another chapter soon. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Ordon Village was now covered in a blanket of white. The creeks were starting to form ice along the edges. Smoke billowed from chimneys as the villagers attempted to stave off the cold snap. 

Link stopped briefly at his house to grab something to keep warm. Colin wasn’t there. He’d probably gone home when the snow started. Link looked through what the Skull Kid had left. The only thing he could find was a blanket. He took it and continued his trek. 

_ I am such an idiot,  _ he thought.  _ I had the Skull Kid in my hands. I had his weapon. I was in control. WHY did I leave?  _ He clutched the blanket close.  _ Perhaps I’m useless without someone telling me what to do?  _

_ Well, I could go back and face him again. _

Snow blew into his face, he drew back from the biting wind. 

_ Welp… no… now I have to figure this snowy problem out. I screwed up again and now I have a magic snowstorm to deal with. Zelda is my best bet. She knows about magic. _

He tramped through the snow, skirting drifts of snow in his sandaled feet.

_ It would be so easy as a wolf,  _ he thought. The temptation was right at his chest. His fingers touched the pouch. “ _ Nice fur and quick legs would be perfect right now.” _

His hand touched the bag. Then he shook his head.  _ Nope, don’t be stupid again. How will I tell Zelda anything as a wolf? At least now I can draw her a picture.  _

That thought reminded him of something. He crouched under a nearby tree and pulled out his notebook and charcoal stick. Quickly but with stiff fingers, he drew a diagram of the Skull kid’s instrument. 

The frozen teenager labeled the parts with what he knew. One valve had a cloud with snow falling from it, another he was sure was the valve for the puppets, and the third for the mist. He left the fourth blank. Maybe the princess would be able to help him label that one. He put his notebook away. Now if he died of exposure, someone would get the message.

Hours before he would have said that his feet hurt. Now he couldn’t tell if he had them at all. It was too cold. Link surveyed ahead at the immense Hyrule Field and worried about the damage. Did he just save Hyrule only to now destroy it with snow?

Surely crops would be dead by now. Defeated by the frost and ice. 

_ Oh no! That meant no pumpkin soup! _ He frowned and pushed forward, ice hanging from his hair and eyelashes. His feet were heavy as they pushed through the two feet that had already built up.

“Link!” The name was shouted, but it reached him as a whisper.

Was he imagining it? The storm was blowing so hard he wasn’t sure, but then…

“Link, what are you doing?”

And he knew who it was. He couldn’t help smiling. You never really get over your first love completely. 

Illia appeared in front of him. Epona’s strong legs pushing them both through the snow. They both wore nice winter gear, but where they got it, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. He wanted to leap for joy at the sight of them. But he couldn’t, he was frozen. He tried to lift his head up to her.

“Link! You silly, what are you doing in the middle of a snowstorm without any of the proper clothes on? Are you trying to kill yourself?” Illia got off Epona and put the cloak she was wearing around him. His blanket had gotten soaked hours ago. He tried to push it off, not wanting to take her warmth but she insisted.

“You are going to freeze. Surely you know better. You’ve been up to Snowpeak and know what happens in the cold.” She stopped scolding, noticing Link wasn’t replying. “What’s the matter?” 

Link was shaking his head and pointing at his throat. “ _ My voice.” _ He mouthed and gestured with shaking hands.  _ Please understand Illia,  _ he thought.

“You’re hurt?” She asked.

He nodded. It was close enough.

“Well, amazingly, you almost made it to Castle Town. We’ll get you in there and feeling better in no time. Jershon knows Doctor Borville well. He can get you in to see him.” 

Link rolled his eyes. Borville had refused to treat him last time, and had such prejudice against the poor Zora prince, Link didn’t want to deal with him, but Illia insisted and helped him get on Epona.

The horse looked back at him, seemingly glad he was back on her. As a wolf, they had a certain understanding. Wolf and horse languages were different, yet both were behavioral based. The last time he’d tried to talk to her was nearly a month ago, but her meaning was still there. She trusted him. Link leaned forward, onto her warm neck and breathed in her scent. The horse smelled good. Illia always treated Epona so well. 

Illia climbed behind him and they turned back the way they had come. Trudging through the snow to Castletown.

Princess Zelda was at the gate. She was furious.

Bedecked in a voluminous white coat and fluffy boots, she stood near a fire, with two shivering soldiers watching the storm. When she saw Link, her frown deepened.

“What have you done to my kingdom?” She bellowed with a glare.

Crap, she knew. Somehow she knew. How did Zelda know?

Link sheepishly shrugged.

“Your highness,” Illia bowed from the saddle.

“Get down here now and tell me what you’ve done.” Zelda pointed a fluffy glove at Link.

Link scrambled off of Epona and rubbed the back of his head. He held out the Skull Kid’s instrument to her.

“Magic?” Zelda asked.

Link nodded.

He reached under Illia’s cloak for his notebook. The hero opened it up and showed her the picture of the instrument and pointed at his drawing of the cloud and pointed at the sky. 

“Ok, that sort of explains the storm, but there’s another question. You aren’t a beast, so why aren’t you explaining this to me? What’s with the pictures?” 

He pointed vehemently at the other drawings and then pointed at himself and the Skull Kid's instrument.

“Hmmm. Well, we’ll see what we can do.” She motioned to the soldiers.

“We’re done here. Bring our things back to the castle.” 

The soldiers gave a hoot of relief and rushed off to put everything away. 

“We pulled out some sled runners that we had stashed in the back of the stables. I couldn’t imagine why we would have them. Perhaps one of my ancestors lived in that Snowpeak manor you described to me. Anyway, get in the sled before you die of hypothermia. Illia, too. Just tie Epona to the back there, our stable hands can take good care of her when we get back.”

Link didn’t argue. His shivering was uncontrollable now. He didn’t know if he could stand another minute in the cold. He let Illia lead him to a pile of blankets inside the sled, and she jumped in after him.

He elbowed her as she sat next to him.

“Don’t get any ideas mister. You know I’ve been seeing Jershon now.”

Link put his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. It felt so good to be with her again. 

The next thing he knew, Zelda was standing over him, a warming spell emanating from her fingers. Illia was gone and he was lying on a huge couch, warm blankets over him.

“I hope you are the only one that needs to be revived today, but I’m sure you aren’t. It really is a bother. We were just about done cleaning up after Zant’s invasion. I was going to have a celebration for everyone. We were going to bring in dancers and have fireworks and everything. Now look what you’ve done. I’m right in assuming this is your fault.” Zelda spouted.

Link sat up disoriented. He was in her library. At least he thought it was a library. Books, scrolls, and parchment were scattered everywhere. A large rectangular pool was at one end, and three large panels of rock were at the other. The books were lined up against the walls. There might have been another room behind them, but Link wasn’t sure.

She held out the Skull Kid’s instrument. “Is this one of your items from the temples?”

Link shook his head.

“But you did play it?”

Link turned beet red and rubbed the back of his head. He was going to have a bald spot there at this rate.

“Well,” Zelda sighed, “I’m going to have to summon the composer.” She handed the instrument back to Link. “Don’t you know you shouldn’t be messing with magical items. I thought we’d established that with the fused shadow.”

Suddenly the floor was very interesting. Was that one of Angela’s bugs crawling in the corner there? Link couldn’t meet the princess’s eyes.

Zelda pulled out a small woodwind instrument from a case on a bookshelf. This one, Link noted really was a flute. She beckoned him over.

“Come here, I don’t want to talk to him alone. He can be a beast of a man.” Zelda left it at that, and Link wondered who this composer was, but went closer as his princess instructed.

They stood in front of the three rock panels. There was a distinct afterlife feel about the granite stones. They towered over him like gravemarkers. Now that they were closer, Link could see very faded paint marks, indicating musical notation. Near the top of the center slab, he also noticed a familiar grouping of triangles. He gestured towards the triforce on his hand.

Zelda nodded. 

“Yes, they were marked there to aid one of the heroes in his quest. He probably summoned the composer in the same way I will. I’m going to play one of the oldest melodies in Hyrule. It’s recorded that this was used in many previous generations. This was probably even played during the first hero cycle. It has many magical uses.”

She lifted her flute and began to play a tune which Link already knew and had used on his adventure. Although his off tune howling it made it sound much worse than Zelda’s happy flute. It was of course Zelda’s Lullaby.

As she played the rocks began to glow with a white magic. The music swelled, until.

Screech!

Zelda hit a note that was clearly off and the magic faded. 

She glared at her flute as if it were to blame and sighed embarrassingly. “I haven’t practiced in ages. You know how it is. You stop doing something and the talent for it tends to fade. We’ll try again.”

_ Huh,  _ thought Link,  _ Zelda isn’t perfect after all. _

She played again, and this time, the note came out correctly, the magic swelled with the music, and then, nothing. The stone remained bright blue, but it seemed like there was no result.

Zelda huffed, “get out here, you know I only do this in emergencies.”

A small whiny voice replied, “let’s see you enjoy your afterlife, being summoned every few days to answer some banal question that you could have looked up in a book! You have enough of them.”

Zelda gave Link a weak smile, “he’s always like this.”

“Yes, I’m always like this. You’d be too. I was sitting there with a beautiful lady, enjoying my drink, when suddenly your music whisks me away to this world of grey. Do you know how long it takes to find my way back! Forever! That’s a long time!” The voice got much higher in pitch.

“Would it help if I said it had something to do with a magical instrument.” Zelda urged.

The voice didn’t reply.

“Let me describe it to you since you don’t want to see if for yourself. It has four protrusions or bells at the end and just as many valves. You play it like you might play a recorder, it doesn’t have a separate mouthpiece. Oh, and it can apparently produce a blizzard.” Zelda continued as if the voice hadn’t protested.

“Are the bells different shapes?” a curious voice whispered from the rock.

“Just look at it.” Zelda said exasperatedly. 

A head poked out of the center rock slab. The ghost’s body followed shortly after. He immediately grabbed the instrument from Zelda, and inspected it from all sides.

“This wasn’t made by a Hyrulian.” He shook his head. “Nope, it comes from a lunar world. You can tell by this.” He pointed to a small swirl near the mouthpiece that Link would have missed. “All of the runes we have acquired from them were circular, but this particular swirl seemed to be one of the moon people’s favorites.”

_ How did it end up in the hands of an imp from the Lost Woods,  _ Link wondered.

“My brother and I discovered that any of their magical items had a catch,” the ghost added, “their magic could only be broken by the one who cast it. So if you happened to, I don’t know… let’s suppose you make all of the cows in Hyrule give milk that made someone have the strength of ten men, then you could only stop it with the same spellcaster.”

The shade handed the instrument back to Zelda. “Anything else princess? I have a long climb ahead of me.”

“Not unless you could tell us what else this instrument can do?”

“No, but it does look terribly hard to tune. Good luck with that one. Bye!” The tension that Link didn’t realize was in the room relaxed, and the shade dissolved back into the rock, waving a few times and sticking his tongue out at them as he faded into nothing.

“Well Link, I guess we need to figure out how you are going to stop the storm,” Zelda sighed and turned to her bookshelf. 


	4. Wonderful World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Zelda try to figure their way out of the tangled mess Link made from using magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone, I got sick for a couple of weeks and had a ton of work to catch up on. It is 2020. Was it COVID? Who knows? I was unable to get tested and won't really know if I had it unless they get some antibody tests for us all. I'm hoping to get a chapter out every two to four weeks. We will see.

“I believe I have a book on reversing curses here somewhere. Help me find it Link. Magicians used a blue color on the covers of the books, so that should help us narrow it down. Come on, get going!”

They worked fast, trying to locate anything that could help them, knowing that every minute meant more people were suffering in the storm. If they didn’t act fast, they would be facing food shortages, loss of livelihood, and cold-related health problems. Link didn’t want to be responsible for that. 

He started at the nearest shelf, not really knowing what he was looking for, but knowing that if he stopped, Zelda would yell at him. While he was not new to a female’s wrath, there was something about pissing off Zelda that made him hesitate.

As for the books, he could sort of work out some of the words, but not many. Most of the titles were just too long, or had weird letter combinations. Link opened a few blue tomes and tried to find some pictures. He found them full of words that skipped off the page. Some of the words didn’t stop until the next line. It was no good. There was no way he was going to help by reading any of these books. Luckily, he didn’t have to pretend to be reading for long.

“I found it!” Zelda shouted, flipping through a few pages. “Come figure this out with me.” Link looked over her shoulder and saw a few diagrams, but Zelda, an incredibly advanced reader, had already discovered what they were looking for. “Oh right here. Yes. That’s it. It’s so simple really. Once you have the key to it, solving the puzzle is a child’s game.” 

The princess whirled, braids spinning. “Come with me,” she ordered while grabbing his hand.

That’s when the door opened and Illia stormed in. She stopped short when she saw Zelda’s hand in his.

“Oh, I uh… um…” the farm girl stuttered, “I came in to tell you that a group of people have gathered at the gate. They are saying that they can’t light fires anymore. Something about the cold being magic. They mentioned the castle having some kind of magic resistance. I came to see what you...um...” Her face was brilliantly red.

“Oh. Yes,” Zelda glanced from Illia to Link, realization of some hidden meaning crossing her face and she dropped Link’s hand. “Let them come in. There is plenty of room for all in the castle. Inform the guard at the door here to organize the troops to help get food and blankets. We should be able to stoke the fires large enough in the great hall. I will be there shortly to help those who need healing. They are right in assuming that the castle has magic protection. After Zant’s takeover, I decided to begin reinforcing it. I’ve shored up the walls and the roof with resistance to natural and physical magical attacks. We do have plans to extend it to the rest of the city, but need to increase in magic energy first and I…” Zelda stopped herself, “I’m so sorry, sometimes I can get off track. Please let them in. We will stop the snow soon, but we don’t know how long we have until it warms up again.”

Illia nodded, her stare never leaving Link’s hand, and left the room.

Zelda faced the boy once more. “Well, uh, come on Link. Every second matters.”

Link sighed, or he would have if any sound came out. Was it a sigh if it was soundless? Link didn’t have time to ponder that, because he was being dragged through corridors and up stone stairs to a parapet that faced a fortified bastion. The tall defensive tower blocked most of the snow from hitting them straight on, but the air was freezing. A lone soldier peeked curiously out of the bastion window at them. Link gave him a little wave.

“This has the best echo.” Zelda shouted through the storm. “Though you’ll have to play quite loudly.” She handed him the instrument. “Just make sure you use the correct valve.”

Link had no trouble finding the correct lever on the instrument to depress, but he hesitated. What if it failed though? What if he made the storm worse? He could see tiny townspeople huddled near the castle doors. They seemed so frightened. Ordon had no castle to protect them. How were they coping? Would the village be able to recover their crops? Would there be any pumpkins for pumpkin soup? There were too many questions and doubts running through his mind.

His reluctance must have shown, because Zelda gave him an encouraging nod. “Just play. The echo will put the spell to rest. Perhaps we can find a sun spell to help the snow melt later.”

Link squared his shoulders towards the wall. He put it to his lips and blew as hard as possible. The note played above the din of the storm. For the briefest of moments, Link thought it had done nothing. They strained to hear or sense any change. Then the sound bounced off the wall and echoed back to Link and Zelda. Zelda gave a cheer as the Skull Kid’s instrument glowed a low golden color. The storm paused, snowflakes stopped in midair where they’d been falling, like they had changed their minds about falling to the ground. For a moment time stopped. 

Then, there came a loud sucking as the clouds fled through the sky into the bell of the instrument. Link had to brace himself against the stone wall as the entirety of the cold front moved into his hands. The snow rushed into him and Link wished for the days when the only thing plowing into him was a goat. He would even take a few Gorons over this. Just when Link thought it was going to throw him over the edge, it was over. A few stray snowflakes remained, and then the sky was blue once more. 

Link looked down at the pipes in his hands as one last snowflake landed gently on his nose. Magic… sheesh. It never did anything quietly, it always had to put on a show.

He lowered the instrument and surveyed the damage. Snow piled up to the bottom of windows and made trees look like bushes. Link could see some people slowly pushing the snowdrifts away from their doors so they could pop out and cheer.

They’d done it. 

Zelda was almost happy. Almost. 

There was always something else with that woman.

She put her hands on the crenellated wall. “Oh Nayru what a mess. People had just started getting their lives back together. This is going to take quite a lot of work.” She faced him and put her hand out for the instrument. Link obligingly handed it over. “Now, I’m inferring that one of these other pipes has caused you to become mute, which is why you tried to play it in the first place? You really should have come to me. I have the most knowledge… other than deity of course, on curses and their cures.” She fiddled with the valves some more and checked it over for more clues.

Man, Zelda was spot on. Link was so glad he didn’t have to tell her everything in a game of charades. He nodded vehemently.

“Do you know who cursed you?”

Link nodded again.

“I’ll need to organize some aid and send some scouts to see how the cities and villages got along. I just hope it didn’t reach any of our allies. The Zora would never forgive us. Meanwhile  **you** are going back to the library in order to draw me your entire story. I need to know who cursed you and where the Master Sword went” She pointed with the flute towards his back where the sword normally was.

Two hours later, Link was adding shadows to the Skull Kid’s forehead. He was in his element. The teen could spend all day drawing, and he often did while he sat under the shade of a tree, watching the goats. Link was getting good at drawing goats. The goats were getting good at eating drawings. 

He was always asking Sera to order more paper for him, which cost him a good portion of his paycheck to buy. The villagers often made requests. “Link, could you draw my dog?” “Link ,draw me as a soldier fighting a dragon!” “Link can you draw my fish I caught?”

Now,he was alone in the library with only the popping of the fire to keep him company. The country boy didn’t mind. It was a nice contrast from the last time he’d been in the castle. This time there were no shrieks from deadly monsters or evil immortal beings bent on slaughtering him. He was able to enter a deep calm state of mind, solely focused on making the paper image become real. Link hardly noticed the light sliding down the bookcases.

“Link,” Zelda put a hand on his shoulder, which brought Link quickly to reality. It took him a minute to understand where he was again. “I brought Illia with me. If figured she might be able to help me interpret your signs and drawings. You two grew up in the same village correct? She will understand your references.”

Link could see Illia’s arms, slender and pale poking out of a dark leather overcoat lined with rabbit fur. Her hands, usually cauloused and dirty from work, were clean from the weeks of living in the city. Link found he couldn’t look any higher. He couldn’t meet her gaze, knowing that she still had questions that he didn’t want to answer.

_ Yeah, she’ll be able to interpret this,  _ he thought wistfully. _ I’ve known her forever. She’s my first memory of living in Ordon Village. She knows my every mood. Well… almost every mood... _

“Cut it out Link,” Illia said, whacking him on the shoulder. “Let’s get your voice back so you can stop moping.”

_ Yup, right on the mark.  _ Link’s shoulder’s shook in a quiet giggle and he finally allowed himself to grin at her.

“I told Princess Zelda that you never explained what you did during the invasion, and I have no idea what a Master Sword is, though I guess it’s the new sword that you usually keep on your back. Zelda said that I should be here anyway.” Illia had her hands on her hips. 

_ Oh Illia, not this again. You don’t need to know all of that. You’ve already been through enough. Why can’t you be happy not knowing? _

“I’m sure he has his own reasons for keeping silent on the matter. There are things that happened that I’m not proud of. However, embarrassment can’t keep me from being honest with the people of Hyrule. I had to surrender myself to keep them safe. In the end it did very little. I became a literal puppet to a malevolent being. A being, who frankly would have killed or enslaved us all. Hyrule has been making a slow recovery. Link, on the other hand, was faced with impossible choices. Horrible choices. He was an integral part of the resistance and vital to my release from my magical prison. While I don’t have knowledge of everything he did. I do know some, and I know what my own men are going through. Many of the royal soldiers need help dealing with the violence they received and witnessed their comrades receiving. Besides medical attention, they have each other to talk to. They have palace resources they can fall back on. Link doesn’t have many he can share these memories with. He also chose to go back to Ordon Village, instead of accept a post at the palace. There are none who can truly see and sympathize. The person who traveled with him during his trials is no longer with us.” Her voice had gone soft at the end and Link looked at his shadow, flickering from the inconsistent firelight.

“Yeah, I just feel like there’s a door that’s been shut on me.” Illia folded her arms. Link reached up and put one hand on her shoulder.

_ I can’t explain Illia, you would have had to have been there. We were all just trying to survive. It’s like Zelda said. I saw some horrible things. I did some horrible things. I killed innocents who had been turned into monsters. What if you had been turned into a monster? Would I have ripped your throat out? Farore Illia, I don’t even want to think about it.  _ Link shuttered thinking about the myriads of throats he’d had to rip out as a wolf. The imp, Midna, on his back tutoring him on how to accurately kill her own people. Not giving him a word about who they really were. Who he was killing. Midna’s back to them on Leaving Day. Gone. Link fiddled with the edge of the drawing, curse or no curse, he would have been silent right now.

“What did you draw there Link?” Illia asked, looking over his shoulder.

He held it up to the light. He was sure she’d never seen the Skull Kid before, but she might know about the woods surrounding it. He pulled out a map he’d drawn underneath it, showing what part of the forest he’d found the Skull Kid. 

“Oh, that’s about a day’s walk away from Ordon Village.” Illia pointed at the map. “I recognize the cliffs, but there’s no forest over there. The path goes the other way.” 

Link shook his head and pointed where the trail to the Skull Kid split away from the other one. He tried to mouth the words, _secret way._

“There are old stories that there are ancient woods nearby said to house the sacred sword. The Master Sword. Is that where you found it?” Zelda asked.

Link nodded.

“Wait, is this Master Sword the same sword mentioned in the Ballad of Time? ” Illia blurted incredulously. Link could see dots connecting and pieces coming together. She’d figured it out. Smart girl.

“Yes.”

Illia gasped, “That means that Link…”

“...is a prophesied hero of the Triforce.”

“Oh.” Illia paused. “That sure sounds like something Link should have mentioned.” She glared at Link. Link held up his hands innocently.

_ Yeah, here I am. The hero with the triforce. I’m also the dumb cucco who lost his sword. THE sword.  _ He thought sheepishly.

“Do you still have your piece of the Triforce? Is that it there, in the pouch you always keep around your neck?” Illia reached for the bag. 

Link stopped her with his arm. He didn’t know what would happen if someone else touched the cursed rock and he didn’t want to know. Link didn’t exactly understand how it worked. Would Illia turn into a whisplike being that the Hyrule inhabitant became when Twilight was upon them? Would she turn into a beast?

_ Ok, this is enough for me, let’s bring it back to the Skull Kid. _

He picked up the drawing and pointed.

“Alright, ok, we’ll help you.” Illia said, “But you have to promise me that after you get your voice back, you and I will have a big talk. I’m your best friend. I deserve something.”

Link wasn’t so sure she would want to hear what he said. Lycanthropy wasn’t usually looked on with positivity and the rest of his story was just as unbelievable.

Zelda took his drawing and moved closer to the light of the fire, studying the picture.

“You have an eye for detail, Link. Look at the clothing. You gave me a few clues just by the designs and patterns. Oh, and I can tell you what trees he got those leaves from. Incredible.”

“It looks creepy though.” Illia added. “Did it really have eyes like that Link?”

Link nodded.

“There are a few older texts that describe a creature of the forest, let me go see if I can find them.” She headed off into another section of the library leaving Link and Illia alone.

The fire crackled noisily.

“Sooo…”Illia said.

Link showed her his notebook and sketched a quick horse.

“Epona?” the country girl asked, tilting her head in a cute way.

Link nodded his head rapidly. A grin back on his face.

“Oh yeah. She’s good. I checked on her before we came in. Despite not having a winter coat, she handled the snowstorm very well. I made sure she had something warm to munch on though. Heated oats.” Illia clasped her hands together. 

Link breathed out in relief before drawing again.

When he finished, he held up a picture of a boy and made a kissy face.

“Stop Link,” Illia giggled and smushed his face with her hand, he gave another silent giggle. “No, we haven’t kissed… yet. Things are going well though.” She sighed, avoiding Link’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Link gave her his best confused face and mouthed.  _ For what? _

“I’m sorry for leaving you like that. I just… you became…”

Link put a hand on her arm, and she put a hand on it. He nodded and scribbled on the page, holding it up to her.

“What is that? The page is just black.” 

Link nodded.

“You became dark scribbles?”

Link rocked his hand in a ‘sort of’ gesture. He circled his scribbles with a heart shape.

“Your heart became dark scribbles?”

Link nodded.

Illia pulled up a chair and put a hand on his arm. “We’ve all had something happen to us though Link. Remember I was kidnapped and…” Illia shuddered. “You don’t have to feel alone in this.”

Link nodded again. How was he going to explain this without words? He flipped through his notebook, looking at the drawings he had done. The mines, the desert, the mountains, even the cave near the end, none of them could tell Illia what made him feel so distant to her. Finally, he found the one. It was a self portrait. Human Link was looking into a pool, and seeing his wolf form snarling back. It was literally and figuratively who he was now. Reluctantly, he showed it to Illia.

She took a long time, pondering the drawing.

“Is this how you see yourself now, Link? You see yourself as a beast? The kind of monster that we had to fight off during the invasion? Is it because of the killing you had to do, like Zelda was saying? You see yourself as an enemy?”

Link nodded. 

“I found them!” Zelda shouted from across the room. “Here’s some old records of animal species and monsters that used to inhabit the forests of Hyrule. It’s perfect because they have pictures so you can help me search through them.” She stared pointedly at Link. Link winced. “So it would be wonderful if you two could look for answers without me for a little while. I’m done being a librarian for a while. I need to go see if any of my messengers are back. Part of my country is going through a disaster right now. I need to be there.”

She handed them some books and scrolls and left the room.

Illia sat down and began to skim through some of the papers. Link picked up the biggest book and began to turn the pages. He instantly recognized many of the creatures from the illustrations and called them by the names he’d given them on his travels. 

_ There’s Plant Snake. The plant that wants to be a snake. I hated those things. Oh, and the plant snake’s other relatives that aren’t so freaky. The ones that don’t chase you down. They aren’t so bad as long as you don’t step on their roots.  _ He flipped through a few more pages.  _ Bees, yup, got stung by those. Oh, and it’s my good friend Goopy Goop. How many different colors of Goopy Goop can there be? There’s Rage Goopy Goop, Bad Tasting Goopy Goop, Ouchy Goopy Goop, and Pretty Goopy Goop. I’m sure there are more, but they all just start looking like the same Goopy Goop after a time. Hmmm, it’s real name isn’t very long. C.h.u. Still don’t really know how to say that.  _ He flipped through a few more pages, recognizing monsters along the way.  _ Big Lizard, Giant Armadillo, Rat… just rat, Bat Guy, Vulture Dragon… _ Link stopped. There was something familiar on the next page.

It was a page full of fairy-like children living in tree houses, much like his in Ordon Village. They all seemed to be wearing clothing that resembled the hero’s tunic he’d been gifted during the invasion. Very odd. At the bottom of the page was a sketch of a teenager who held a shield that looked awfully familiar. Didn’t the hero’s shade have a shield just like this? He needed to know what this said.

Link got Illia’s attention by shaking her shoulder.

“Did you find it Link?” She asked.

Link pointed to the words at the top of the page and then at Illia.

“Well”, she gulped. “It says, Cocoa… Cocoa Ree. I think. Have you seen the Cocoa Ree before?”

Link touched the shield on the paper gently. He shook his head,  _ no.  _ At least he didn’t think so. His mentor was definitely not a child. He didn’t think a child could give him the bruises he got from those training sessions. However here were some clues to his identity. Perhaps someday he could find him in one of Zelda’s books.

A whisper from his memories passed through the room. “Believe in your strengths,” it breathed. The flames in the fireplace flickered, but the only person there was Illia. Link noticed a pale luminescence from the stone that had produced the composer earlier. It could’ve been a trick or an illusion, but Link wanted to believe he had heard his mentor.

Illia broke the spell. “Well, keep going. You seem to be getting close.” She went back to her book.

Link nodded.

He opened his notebook to a page near the front and copied, “Kokiri”. He added a big question mark. Maybe someday, he’d get to talk to his teacher again and ask him what it meant. Was he a Kokiri?

He reluctantly went back to the book.

Many pages and more monster nicknames later, he found it. Illustrations of Skull Kids dotted the page. He’d been hoping for loads of information, but there wasn’t much Hylian script written there. However, Link knew it would be a start. Bright eyes lit up from underneath the leafy hats on their heads. Some even had instruments. Link pointed at the picture and nudged Illia once more.

“Ow sheesh, not so hard. Hey, you found it! I’ll go tell Zelda.”

Moments later, a harried looking Zelda was sitting in Link’s chair reading through the entry.

“Fey children of the forest, a Skull Child’s life will last as long as it’s woody body doesn’t rot or decay. Little is known about their origins, diet and social behavior other than they are usually found in the deepest part of the forest known as the Lost Woods. Some older records suggest that Skull Kids enjoyed playing dangerous games with younger Hylian children and stories are handed down of them luring children deep into the forest. Many are never seen again. One story does tell of a Skullchild who was tricked by a clever boy who exchanged a mask for the way out. If a Skullkid is encountered, it is advised to watch younger children, avoid eye contact, and leave the area immediately.”

_ Games.  _ Link thought with a grimace.  _ Throwing deadly puppet creatures at me in a morbid game of chase was his idea of a game? Well if violent games were what Skull Kid wanted, Link had a little experience in that area. He would need weapons. _

He pulled out his notebook and quickly sketched a sword and bow with a quiver on it and showed it to Zelda. He pointed to himself and then to the pictures again.  _ Please,  _ he mouthed and held his hands in a pleading movement.

“Of course you can have your pick from the armory, but why do you need a bow? Don’t you own one or two?”

Link patted himself down and shrugged.  _ I didn’t bring anything with me.  _

“Usually you’re more prepared than anyone I know.” Zelda laughed, “Illia, Link usually has an item for any occasion. He can solve almost any dilemma by pulling something out of his pack. I’ve seen him pull out multiple weapons in rapid succession in the middle of a sword swing.”

“Oh really?” Illia eyed Link, “it’s funny he can do that, but can’t seem to keep Epona out of trouble.”

“Epona?” Zelda asked, one eyebrow raised. 

“His horse.”

“Ah. Yes. Link, speaking of neglect... we are still anticipating news of the Master Sword. You know, the most valuable artifact our country has, and the most vital key to it’s security? You still haven’t answered that question yet Link.” 

Ok, this was Link’s cue. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed. He had plans to get the sword back, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he had lost it… until he retrieved it again. As Hanch was fond of saying, “No news is news you aren’t getting blamed for.” He bowed to Zelda and Illia and left them giggling in the library.

The castle stairway to the armory was pitch dark. Link found he could navigate by nose, but now and then he could smell the remnants of the invasion. There was the smell of a monster here, or some memory of something he had killed there. Rounding a corner, the hero reached for the Master Sword, only to realize it was a maid hurrying off to bed, her candle burning down to the nub and distressed at seeing a stranger emerge from the dark. Link nodded hello to her and skipped down a few steps. He missed the snappish way Midna would keep him in reality. His wolfish brain tended to wander and she kept him on track. He sighed at the thought of her. 

“ _ Midna! Midna! Are you allri....” He had stopped. The figure on the ground wasn’t Midna. It was too big to be Midna.  _

_ “What the Chu, Midna?” _

_ It was her. It felt like her. She smelled like a pleasant crisp breeze mixed with lavender. She had the same mannerisms, only… well… bigger. _

_“What? Say something.”_ _She had said turning towards him, “am I so beautiful that you have no words left?”_

The hero had never had enough time to ponder who she really was. During their journey she was always the imp and he was her companion. In all honesty, Link thought all Twili people looked a bit like Zant. It begged the question, did he love her before she was beautiful?

The barracks were found on the ground floor of the castle along the outside perimeter. The snow had never reached the castle and there were still struggling flowers trying to grow in the cobblestones. There were two main rooms that housed most of the soldiers and two rooms that were reserved for officers. Both opened up to a dirt courtyard where Link now stood. The castle armory was located between the officers and enlisted men’s quarters. The door was locked and lightly guarded by one bored soldier.

Link greeted the man, who seemed to recognize him.

“Hey it’s you. The guy who stood up to the monsters.”

Link nodded.

“Well, thank you for what you did. That was a stand up thing, really. I wish I had half the courage. Well, I wish I had half the courage and skill as you.”

If the sun were up, the soldier would have noticed Link blushing. 

Link pointed at the man’s sword and then at the door behind him.

“Not much for speaking, eh. Well, that’s alright. Sure, we have weapons here. You’ll have to check them out if you need one though. You’ve already been checked out with the Princess, so you have the whole room to choose from.”

They went into the room, which was lined with weapons. Link’s eyes went big. He didn’t realize there were so many types of swords. Oh, and great giddy cuccos, look at the size of that crossbow.

He had to look at each item, delighted at each new find, before he got down to business. First he needed a bow. Link had never had a choice in bows, so the soldier helped him pick one out. The man started with a thin bow that Link rolled his eyes at. He needed a good tough one for this job. Lightweight wouldn’t cut it. However, the soldier didn’t seem to believe that Link could draw as much as he was insisting he could. Link had to keep pointing at the heavy ones in the corner. The smaller ones just didn’t feel right. 

Finally, Link just took the heavy bow from the man’s hands, strung an arrow, and shot out the door. The bolt went through the darkness into a target halfway across the courtyard where it landed in the center with a thunk. 

The man’s mouth was gaping like a stinkfish in awe. 

That was how Link’s bow and arrow demonstration began. Pretty soon all of the castle guards, most of whom were supposed to be sleeping, were standing against the long castle wall while Link shot an arrow through three hoops, over an armored knight, through a picture of a hated royal, and blowing out a candle as it landed on a pillow.

They cheered and whooped, and money from wages was passed from the hopeful to the losers. Link grinned. Shooting wasn’t even his favorite way of fighting, he much prefered head on head wrestling, but he had to admit that he liked the attention. One of the winners handed him a drink, and Link gulped it with gusto, forgetting why he even had come down to the armory. The party went on for a few hours. Everyone enjoyed it a little too much, soldiers who should have been on duty, delayed more and more. Link shot trick after trick, making the men laugh when he missed and made a ringing sound on a helmet. It would have continued longer except he felt a gentle touch on his arm that turned into a pinching .

“Link! You crazy boy child. What in the world are you doing?” As soon as Illia finished a yawn, she replaced her hands back on her hips.

It was now so late at night that it was early in the morning. The soldiers were still shouting for Link to continue with his shooting. Most of them were drunk. One shuffled over to them grinning and waving at Illia.

“I love you, little farmer boy. You make us all smile. Aand you don’t tell us whatto do. I love you.” He patted Link’s face. “Oh and girl. You are this good boy’s girlfriend?”

“No,” Illia said crossly. “I’m not his girlfriend.

“Well you should be. This boy is the best of us all. He’s a good boy. A good boy. YEssh!” The man gave him a kiss on the cheek and patted his head. “I’m off. Captain said we are scrubbin’ the dungeons tomorrow for leavin’ post!”

The other men shouted a cheer and the man immediately made an impromptu bed by the wall.

Illia shook her head and took Link by the shoulders. “Zelda found something she thought you should know, so she sent me with this.” Illia handed him a piece of paper.

Link opened it up. There were a lot of words, but he struggled through it. 

_ Moon… ok that one was easy. It must be talking about the moon people who made the flute. Moon magic, something something, four things. So the moon people’s magic has four things.  _

Underneath the writing was a drawing.

_ Zelda is horrible at drawing. What is this? Some squares? I think the circle is supposed to be the bells of the instrument. When all of this is done, I’m giving that lady some drawing lessons. How can she even function like this? _

Illia pointed at the instrument.

“Zelda said that you would be interested in the four fields of magic used by the people of the moon. There was something like Autotrophica, Sound Spells, Frontimy, and Transformation. Zelda said you would be interested in that last one.”

Link picked up his bag, where he had left the instrument. He picked up Zelda’s paper. Her crude diagram had four runes. One for each opening. Link felt along the bell and found matching ones etched into the wood. Zelda was right. He was interested in the fact that the makers of this instrument specialized in transformation spells. He idly pressed the valve for the mystery bell. Was it possible that this one could turn him back into a human if he were stuck as a wolf?

“Link, Zelda told me that you would probably need to find a way to the moon to get your voice back. What does that mean, find a way to the moon? You can’t get there by climbing a tower or anything.”

Link shrugged. He didn’t know what Zelda was on about. He didn’t need the moon people in order to get his voice back. 

All he needed now was the Skull Kid.


	5. Take Me Home Hyrule Roads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link jumps from one frying pan to another as he arrives home and all is not as it should be. Once again, he has to find a way to get out of yet another mess.
> 
> Also, don't kill me for the choo choo joke. It's really late and I like dumb jokes.

"We create our own demons"

Tony Stark

There were bokoblins in Ordon Village.

Link counted more than twenty bokoblins squealing and smashing their way through the fields, the lifeblood of the farmers, releasing primal violence on anything and everything. Their ferociousness was met with a silence that to Link felt like death. Ordon Village was quaint, but never quiet. There was always noise. Farm animals, people working on projects, children playing all added to a hum of life that made things feel normal. Regular life in Ordon Village was hearing people call to one another, not hearing monsters screeching with a gleeful rage.

All of the monsters wore nothing above the waist, but had managed to wrap their wrists and hair in what looked like white bandages. One had a red substance coating it’s skin, which made Link’s heart skip a beat until he got close enough to realize it was tomatoes. At least the foul mood of the bokoblins had been directed towards mere vegetables.

_ Oh Nayru, not another thing harming the crops _ .  _ What are we going to eat? _

Link despaired as he thought of the decimation he had brought to Hyrule. The snowstorm had been harsh on tender plants that were just getting started for the season. The ride through Hryule Field was devestating. Everywhere he looked he saw wilted leaves and crumbling flowers. Ordon was no different. Even the pumpkins, the precious pumpkins, were dead. Their vines were brown and beyond recovery.

_Who needed an undead evil, all Hyrule needed to bring catastrophe to the land was a stupid kid and some magic flute he’d found._ _Great._ Link thought sarcastically. _I’m such a screw up._

He was probably responsible for these bokoblins too.

One of the bokoblins smashed a green unripened pumpkin with it’s club. He cackled at the sound and went for another. Up the road a cucco protested as the monster chased it up the lane.

_ He’s going to regret that, _ Link chuckled to himself, and sure enough, he heard a raging crow from one of the cuccos. Several other cuccos came flying to the rescue and shortly the creature bolted passed Link’s hiding spot. Link ducked lower.

_ Where are the people?  _ Link wondered.  _ What happened to Rusl? He can usually keep hordes like this out with his gates and defenses. Hadn’t we built a few traps together just last week? _

Link made his way from house to house, searching through windows and listening through cracks to find signs of the villagers. Getting desperate, he finally made it to the last house up the lane, Illia’s house, where he heard them.

“There, there don’t cry. Things worked out before didn’t they?”

The sound was so muffled that Link wasn’t quite sure who was talking. He went to the small side window and saw the villagers huddled together. Sera was holding Beth, who was coughing, on her lap. She stroked the bangs away from her daughter’s eyes. Nobody moved, but sat somberly in a circle. The scene was too familiar. Link had enough and went to open the window. He started prying it at the edges, but it was set too tightly in the frame.

“Link will come back, won’t he?” Beth was asking.

“Oh baby, he went into the forest.” Sera’s voice quavered. 

“Yeah, he was probably trapped in the snow storm and froze to death,” It was Malo. The small boy scowled at the door.

“Malo.”

“It’s true.”

_ Oh, thanks Malo _ .  _ You’d think he could have more faith in me after I saved him the last time. _ Link tried the window again.

“You know he’s more resourceful than that.”

“I don’t know. He still has some basics that aren’t honed.” Link was going to have a serious talk with Malo when this was over… and then show him some of the awesome tricks he had performed for the palace guards. Maybe that would win him over. 

“Well, regardless, I believe Link will return.” Sera stated loyally.

“Meanwhile, the bokoblins will eat us all.” Link could practically hear the tiny boy’s eyes rolling.

“Malo, where did you learn to be so cynical?”

“I’m not cynical. I’m practical. It’s why my Malo Mart became so popular. I knew when people needed things. I may or may not have fixed a few prices, but I always was fair. I know truth from fiction, and the truth is, Link is probably dead, and so are we.”

Talo began to cry.

Link was just about to rap on the window when he heard the feral, guttural sound of a bokoblin approaching the house. He and his compatriot grunted at each other as they burst through the door, weapons waving in the air. One pointed at Sera and the other grabbed her, Beth toppled to the floor, too stunned to react. Sera shouted and pulled away from the bokoblins, trying to reach her.

Sera managed to loosen a hand to wave at her child. “It’s ok. Momma will be ok.”

“No,” shouted Haunch, “take me!” It was probably the only act of self-sacrifice he had ever done in his entire life. Sera looked impressed.

The Bokoblins glanced at the thin pallid man and laughed, dragging Sera out the door and locking it behind them. The occupants in the room burst into tears.

Link peered around the corner of the house. The monsters were dragging Sera to a giant cooking pot that they had set up in the middle of the road. They seemed to be having a hard time getting a fire started with all of the wood soaking wet from the melted snow. However they continued as if cold uncooked soup was better than cooked. One of them was scraping tomatoes off of himself and tossing it into the pot. Another was throwing green pumpkins in unpeeled and with the stem. When the cooks saw the plump store owner being dragged towards them, they began jumping with glee. 

There was a familiar sense of determination building within the young hero. While he probably would have jumped in to help anyone about to be cooked by bokoblins, he certainly was not going to let his family be eaten. It was time to act.

While the Bokoblins were distracted, Link opened the door of the mayor’s house and gave everyone the “be quiet” sign. 

Talo couldn’t help but run up to Link and give him a big hug. 

“We thought you were dead.” he whispered. Link hugged him back and guided him out the door with the others.

_ At least I have an excuse for not saying anything,  _ Link thought. 

The last ones out were Uli and her baby. Before leaving, she grabbed him by the arm.

“They took Rusl. I don’t know where Colin is. I think the monsters killed them both.” Uli resettled her baby. “Be careful. There are so many of them. You might need an army.”

Link nodded and unsheathed his sword. She was right. He had never fought so many at one time before. 

In the distance, one of the Ordon goats called out. The goats were out again. 

_ Oh, now they decide to come out of the barn… wait… that could be something. _

Once the rest of the villagers were out of sight, hiding around the bend of the creek, Link ran back into the house. He had to hurry, Sera’s life depended on it.  _ Come on Illia, tell me you left them here.  _

He found the clay box underneath her bed. All of the fireworks were still there. 

_ Perfect. _

*********************

Sera fell to the ground, the bokoblins gripped her wrist and feet, wrapping them with rope in ungraceful knots, their long fingers fumbling at the task. As they worked, they sneered at her, one even licked her cheek before another shoved it away.

“Oh leave me alone you brutes!” Sera screamed, but inside she was jelly. 

Finally, a bokoblin came bustling over with a stack of dry wood it had found inside a house. After a few failed strikes, they had a fire going. Sera kicked and thrashed in her bonds, but it was no use. She was going to be Sera stew. She now felt sorry for all of the poor cuccos she had eaten in the past.

The bright sky was suddenly full of explosions. The bokoblins all stopped their work and looked up towards the hillside from where it emanated.

It took Sera a minute to remember that Illia had ordered some fireworks for them to celebrate the defeat of the Twilight together. They had planned a big banquet at the end of the month. Who was lighting them now?

Sera didn’t have to wonder long, because a rumbling filled the little valley. That sound, she knew, though it had never been so many. While the bokoblins were watching the fireworks, Sera rolled off of the path. She knew what would happen if she stayed in the middle of the road.

She moved not a moment too soon, for down the path came the entire herd of Ordon Goats, eyes wild and charging like the barely domesticated things they were. Bokoblins were plowed over or knocked clear of the path. Some of them didn’t get back up again.

On the back of the large billy goat came Link, looking just as wild-eyed, a grin spread across his singed face. He gingerly leapt off of the billy in a move that belayed to Sera that he’d practiced it before. The goats continued on down the road, running toward Hyrule Field. Link’s face held the briefest goodbye toward the runaway animals and then he was helping Sera. Acting swiftly, he cut her bonds and pointed up the hill towards the hidden safe place by the top of the creek. Sera, not the most adept at physical ventures, ran as much as she could towards her family and friends, but soon had to stop to catch her breath. She chanced a look back and was amazed and horrified. 

Link was already engaging his opponents and the fighting was getting intense. Most of them were already lying on the ground from the stampeding goats, but they were recovering fast. Link would be overwhelmed. He needed to get out of there soon. 

Link seemed to sense that, but he looked up and saw her, nearly to safety, but not close enough. The boy gripped his sword with a gritty resolve that Sera recognized as a Link look. He always wore it when there was a big, dirty job that nobody else really wanted to do. He would volunteer with that same expression.

_ He won't stop until I’m safe. He truly is the hero Rusl has said he is.  _ Sera turned and ran.

*********************

A bokoblin jumped onto Link’s back and tried to choke him with it’s cold hands. Link twisted and let it take the blow from another attacker’s weapon. It screamed and let go. The hero gasped as air returned to his lungs, but then had to quickly block another blow with his shield. He blocked the one, but as he did, another hit him squarely in the shoulder. Something cracked and his sword dropped out of his numb hand. 

This had gone better in his head. 

_ For one, the bokoblins plowed by the goats would not have gotten up as quickly as they did. _

He slammed his shield into a bokoblin and bent to pick up his sword. One of the monsters threw itself at him. Link rolled onto his back, and the bokoblin was kicked backwards into three others. 

_ Two, Sera was supposed to be a bit faster at getting away. Maybe I should have called Epona and had her get Sera to safety? _

A sharp weapon sliced through his boot and into his heel. Link shouted out silently in pain. It was the monster his shield had slammed into earlier. Now it was grinning at him with a bloody dull-bladed dagger. His wound was definitely going to get infected later. 

Despite the pain, Link was on his feet first. He had dropped his shield and had his sword in his one good hand.

_ You’re going to feel fear, Ugly One.  _

It seemed to know it had enraged the wrong person, because it tried to roll away, but it was too clumsy and slow. Link had plenty of time to impale it on the castle’s sword. 

It came away from the dead bokoblin with a jerk and the bokoblin’s life faded away. If Link lived, he would see this moment again in a nightmare. It never got easier to kill.

Like an irritating tickle in his ear, Link heard a familiar giggle. It was the skull kid.

_ I KNEW YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS!  _ Link raged, but when he turned to find the source of his ire, his face met with a bokoblin club instead.

Another came down on his weakened arm shortly after. At this point, it was do or die, Link had to get out of there, or he was finished. He still had an attack he hadn’t tried since the loss of the Master Sword. Gathering the rest of his strength, and putting too much balance on his good foot, Link spun at the mob of monsters surrounding him. 

It would have worked if he were using his good hand. 

It would have worked if he had his usual sword. 

It would have worked if a good portion of the bokoblins weren’t already on the ground, underneath the blow.

But it didn’t work. 

There was no magic in the movement, and only one bokoblin was knocked over. There were three to replace it.

Relentlessly three pounced on him, pounding him with fists or clubs over and over. Link covered his face. They grabbed his sword from his hand and began wrapping him in rope. He kicked one in the knees and four sat on his legs. 

_ Why not just kill me? _ Link thought.  _ Is this skull kid’s doing? _

It was like he knew Link was thinking of him. The woodland creature passed through bokoblins like oil in water. They stood aside in respect. It was not something Link had seen from the creatures before. 

Skull kid leaned over and smirked. It turned to the bokoblins.

“Where did you put it’s bag?”

A bokoblin came forward, clutching Link’s bag, obviously disappointed. Without looking at the skull kid, it handed the bag to the imp.

Skull kid snatched it with a snarl and reached into the bag. It tossed the fishing pole and the bits of food Link still had in there. Then it paused. Skull kid pulled out a wrapped object with an odd bit of reverence. He unwrapped it and held up his pipes. 

“Good.” The imp purred, “throw him in hole.” Skull kid began to play, dancing to his own music and ignoring everything else.

They dragged Link through the mud down the road. They were going down the same path Link went every evening. It was his home. As they entered the yard, Link saw his training dummy mangled and broken, he was sure a bokoblin had used it as a bathroom.

_ Really, you didn’t even leave Steve the dummy alone. Jerks. _

They had a rough time dragging him up the treehouse ladder, and through his door. His house was in even rougher shape than the last time the skull kid had decided to wreck it. Now he didn’t have a table or books. Link figured the bokoblins had used them for firewood during the snowstorm. 

They pulled him by the feet over to the hole to his cellar, with the access ladder pulled out and away from the hole. Link finally understood why they’d brought him here. 

_ Crap.  _

Link had been stuck down in his cellar once before, around when he’d first built it. He’d dug it too deep and then found that he couldn’t climb back out. He probably would’ve still been down there if he hadn’t already made plans to have dinner with Rusl’s family. Colin had come to get him, and Link was able to call for help. It was embarrassing, so of course it came up every time they got together.

The bokoblins tossed him in with a grunt. Link tried to roll when he landed, attempting to soften the blow, but only ended up making it worse as he hit his shoulder. He was sure there was something broken.

He lay in the soft sand of the basement to wait for the pain to go down. 

“Hello?” came a cautious whisper through the unseeing space.

Thank Farore, it was Rusl. At least he wasn’t down here on his own. Link struggled against the smelly bonds to sit up.

_ If I could make any noise I would, cursed skull kid. I can’t wait until I get him under my blade. _

Rusl crawled over slowly. He found Link’s boot.

“Well, you’re a person at least, but who?” He felt the bonds and crude knots. “So many ropes… Link is that you?”

Link wiggled desperately.

“Yes? Move your foot if yes.”

Link shook it as much as he could.

“Link, oh I’m so glad you are alive! You never came back and we assumed the worst. Here, let’s try to get you out of there, and then you can tell me all about what’s going on. They ambushed me early this morning. I don’t know if anyone is alive anymore.” He loosened a few ropes, and Link was able to free one hand and help. “I came to look for Colin. He’s been missing all morning.”

Link froze. That’s who was missing at Mayor Bo’s house. Why would Colin be gone? What would the skull kid need from a loyal little boy? Any of the answers Link thought of he didn’t like. He remembered the book entry from Zelda’s library about imps luring children into the forest and felt sickened.

He threw off the rest of the ropes, and wobbled to his feet. 

“Now Link. Can you tell me what is going on?”

Link placed an assuring hand on Rusl’s shoulder, then turned around. He hoped that what he needed was still here. Oh there, he could smell it. Now he just needed to follow his nose.

“Link?” Rusl queried. 

It was no good trying to communicate in the dark, but Link hoped to change that soon. Link felt along the edge of his cellar until he came to a ledge. Ah, there it was, the lantern. 

After being stuck down here once, Link thought it would be a good idea to keep a light to see by. Now he was glad for that foresight. He found a full lantern and a few bottles of oil. Striking the wick, the cellar suddenly filled with light. 

“Oh,” Rusl said with awareness, then, “Din Link, you look like you’ve been chewed up and spat out.”

Link shrugged.

“Can you give me an update now?”

Link shook his head and led a confused Rusl to the side of the wall to sit down. Now that Link had light, his strength was waning and he needed to rest. Rusl, eager for news, let Link lead him. He offered Link a hand as he gingerly sat on the dirt floor.

“What’s the matter Link?”

Link pointed to his throat and mimed speaking.

“You can’t talk?”

Link nodded.

“Is it… permanent?”

Link shook his head. At least he hoped it wasn’t permanent.

“Yes or no questions then. Did you see the villagers?” Rusl was desperate to get information.

Link gave a “yes”.

“Were they safe?”

Link nodded again.  _ At least the last time I saw them. I’m pretty sure the skull kid will leave the village alone now that he has his instrument. _

“My wife and baby?”

Link nodded.

Rusl paused, tears made his eyes shine and hope shone through them both. While he composed himself, Link took off his boot to inspect the knife wound. It was still bleeding, so Link ripped off some of the sleeve of his tunic and wrapped it. It would have to do until he could find some medical supplies. It was too bad he didn’t have anything of the sort down here. Nope, he stored that in his kitchen, so he didn’t have to go far if he accidentally burned his fingers.

Link decided to check his shoulder and winced.  _ Yup, probably broken.  _

His movements had gotten the attention of the older man, who quickly wiped his eyes. “Let me look at your arm there.” Rusl, who had seen many combat wounds quickly found the source of Link’s pains.

“I wish we had a potion to help with this one, but I only have a bit of this.” He pulled out a bit of dried chu jelly that he’d made into a leather of sorts. “It’s not the same as the fresh stuff, but it will help with the pain and maybe heal most of the bone. I’ve got to say though, that your injury is pretty bad. It looks broken in a few places.”

Link gladly took the chewy piece and ate it quickly.

“So, it’s lucky that your lantern wasn’t stolen. Now at least we don’t have to sit down here in the dark.”

Link gave him a half-hearted smile. They were still stuck. He hadn't been enough to win the battle. 

Again.

He was never enough. He needed Midna. She always knew what to do. Now it was Link’s turn to cover his face. Why did he ever think he could take on something so big by himself?

“Whoa Link, it’s ok. We’ll get out. You’ll save the day again.”

Link shook his head over and over, trying to get all of the no’s out of his mind. 

No, he couldn’t get the Master Sword back. No, he couldn’t save Hyrule from his stupid mistakes. No, he couldn’t properly save the villagers. No, he couldn’t make up with Illia and put things right. No, he didn’t deserve this ridiculous mark of the hero!

He ripped off his glove and tried to scratch the triforce off of his skin.  _ I’m not worthy of this! _ He tried to cry through a voiceless mouth.

“Link, Link stop. Hey! Stop. What’s the matter with you?”

Rusl grasped his hand with his two and held it away. Link’s shoulder suddenly reminded him that it was still broken and he shouldn’t be moving it until it healed properly. Link sagged against the wall once more and hung his head. 

Rusl didn’t let go.

“You didn’t fail Link. You had a setback. You’ve had plenty of those and not given up before.”

Link met his eyes and pulled back his hand. He smoothed the dirt out and drew two figures. One was him, he made sure to draw the sword. The other he drew right next to him. He drew waves radiating from her small figure to indicate power. Link pointed to his drawing and back at him, hoping Rusl could understand.

“You had help? More than the resistance?”

Link nodded. 

“Oh, I see. You feel like you don’t have it in you because you were helped along the way? Like you aren’t good enough on your own?”

Rusl had hit it on the head.

“Listen Link, any good partnership takes two people of equal strength. With what you and your partner did there is no way that you are the short horse of the pair.”

Link gave Rusl a blank expression and mouthed, “What?”

“You don’t get it? Ok. Well, when you have two horses pulling a wagon, you want two evenly matched horses. If they don’t work well together, you can’t pull in a very straight line, your equipment breaks easily, and the work tends to go on one horse. They don’t get the job done. Think about my marriage with Uli. We each have our own strengths, but if one of us failed, our partnership wouldn’t work. Whoever helped you was right in line with you. There’s no other way you could have pulled off what you did. Without you Hyrule wouldn’t be here anymore.”

Hyrule wouldn’t be here anymore? Was it true? 

“Link, knowing you, you probably have some strength somewhere. Some talent you can bring out to surprise everyone with. You always do. We rely on those strengths and you can too.” 

A hidden strength that he could surprise people with. Well, there was one thing. 

Link felt under his shirt. In its leather pouch was the magic Stone of Twilight. He'd put off using it for so long that rejecting using it was easy. The dilemma remained. There would be no way to turn back. However, Rusl was right. He did have strengths, strengths that came from being the hero of the Triforce. He could rely on his strengths.

First, he needed to get out of his own hole. Link carefully put his boot back on and stood up, using the wall for support. He felt better. The chu chew must have been at work.

Rusl grinned as he shook a finger at him. "There's the Link I know. Let's get out of here." He gazed up at the entrance. "I think they made a mistake in putting us both in here. I can give you a boost and I think you'll be able to reach the top"

He cupped his hands, ready to give him the lift up.

Link wished he could say the words he wanted to. He wished he could thank Rusl for the years of mentoring. Unless the got the sword back he would never have a chance. Link would have to give his appreciation in action. He would find Colin. He would bring him back to his father.

The young hero ran towards the waiting warrior and the moment his foot found its way into the cradled hands, the older man flung him upwards. Link flew upwards and grabbed onto the ledge. His shoulder screamed at him. He was able to get one leg up. It was getting dim in the house, but he found where the bokoblins had flung the ladder. 

Instead of gently letting it down into the cellar, he tossed it down where it clattered on the floor. Link needed a moment to transform. He wasn’t quite ready to show Rusl just yet. 

_ Sorry my friend, I’m just not ready to explain this all to you quite yet. Besides, I’m getting really sick of pantomime. _

Link poked his head out the front door. There were two bokoblins busy lighting torches. The monsters were having trouble getting their flint to strike properly. Link was able to slide down his front ladder and land on his toes. Quickly, he went into the shadows and drew out the stone.

_ Here it goes.  _

He seized it in his hand and embraced the cold magic that raced into his body. Flesh tore and bones reformed in an instant. Pain from the initial changes disappeared as new nerve connections formed and the old tears were no longer there. His foot and shoulder healed with the magic as it knew the form he should be, and broken bones and grievous wounds were not part of that. 

Link cried out soundlessly. The transformation never got easier. What differed most from the first time it happened was the pain was expected and knowing that it was coming made it easier to tolerate.

Link needed to hurry. Rusl would be coming. He turned grimly to his work.


	6. Wooly Bully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trying to rescue an Colin, Link finally discovers what Skull Kid's intentions were, and it wasn't what he expected at all.

The bokoblins were easy to find in the dark. They smelled like a sweet apple that had been sitting in a pasture through the winter, mixed with pig manure. Though rancid, their smell gave Link the advantage. While they couldn’t see very well in the dark, Link's nose knew exactly where they were. 

After he dispatched the two near his treehouse, he found the rest gathered in the village central. They were huddled together, seemingly on edge after hearing the death cries of their comrades. As soon as Link stepped into the light of their campfire, they began to scatter. A few decided to stay and fight, their battle cries slightly less menacing than before. Link quickly took them down, ripping through their necks with teeth meant for tearing. It was grim work. He kept his mind focused on the fact that he was protecting his family. These creatures were in his home. If he didn’t get rid of them, they would most definitely kill the villagers. Blood dripped down Link’s muzzle and he snarled. A particularly burly monster turned from fleeing, and Link turned his canine lips up in what might have been a smile for a human, but was an outright challenge to a wolf. The bokoblin’s sharp weapon came down, aimed for splitting Link’s skull, but the hero dodged, swivelling to snap a chunk of skin off of the bokoblin’s thigh. The bokoblin cried out as it’s balance was lost. Link pounced on him, ready to bite his throat out, and then paused, his paws on it’s shoulders. The bokoblin whimpered and Link took a moment to glance around him. The village was void of enemies to fight. This bokoblin’s comrades had abandoned it. 

Link reached over and took the bokoblin’s club in his jaws and backed off of the confused bokoblin. He had thought his life was over. Growling in warning, Link watched to see what the injured monster would do.

The frightened bokoblin scrambled to its feet, and limped toward the woods, glancing back over its shoulder with a dumbfounded look on its face. Once out of eyesight, Link continued to follow it with his nose and ears. It didn’t stop, but continued to follow the path of the others. They were all gone.

Link opened his jaw and dropped the weapon. His mouth was full of the taste of bokoblin. 

_ Blech. I need to put something else in my mouth. _

He padded over to the creek, a black ribbon in the dark night, and let the cool water run over his teeth and tongue. His muzzle would be wet for a while, and he hated wet fur, but it was better than sticky blood matted fur. There was a hint of familiar smells and tastes in the water. The villagers were close. They probably wouldn’t check on their homes until the next day, but someone might have heard the fight. 

He found his bag. It still had the paper with Zelda’s crude diagram on it, but his other things, the weapons were gone. He wasn’t as concerned with finding them as he was with one particular item. He knew he would probably need it for his plan to rescue Colin to work. He sniffed around a bit. There it was! He rushed to the fishing pole, lying discarded and in a tangle near the gardens. The tip was broken off, but Link had a feeling he wasn’t going to be using it for fish anytime in the near future. He has other uses for it other than for catching fish. 

After much wrangling and barking in frustration, he managed to fold it into his bag, but now he was faced with how to carry the bag.

Before when he transformed all of his items just kind of… took care of themselves, or Midna would carry them. He never knew what happened to them, especially his clothes when he transformed. He was just glad they were still there when he turned back. Now he didn’t have any options. He had to carry it himself… he needed thumbs!

He ended up just putting the entire thing in his mouth and carrying it that way. It was awkward, but there was nothing for it.

_ What to do next? _

Well, there was one thing he needed to check on before he could save anyone.

He ran over the bridge and out the gate back to the entrance to Hyrule Field. Breathing hard, he came to the copse of trees where he had left her. She was sleeping, but when he got close enough her head came up.

_ Dog!  _ Epona greeted with a shake of her head. There were one or two words Link could understand from Epona, and  _ dog _ was one of them. Clever as Epona was, she could never tell the difference between a dog and a wolf and considered them one and the same.

_ You ok girl? _ Link asked. He didn’t know how much she understood him, but she ripped up some grass and threw it on his head.

Link huffed a laugh.  _ I’m glad you’re ok. _

_ Dog. Look. Dumb Goats.  _ Epona turned her head towards some tall grass, where the horns of several Ordon goats poked up. It seemed that the entire herd of goats were also sleeping in the trees. Epona must have guided them there to wait for Link.

_ I stop Dumb Goats. _ Epona seemed proud of her deed.

_ You did. You are the best herder.  _ Link praised.

_ Go? You be Person?  _

Epona wanted him to turn back into a Hyrulian so they could leave. She nodded towards the saddle and bridle that were carefully placed on a stump nearby. Though she was lying down, her skin rippled with anticipation. She enjoyed the road and loved adventure.

_ Sorry Epona, I can’t take you with me. You need to stay with Illia. You need to be a good girl for her.  _ Link put his head on her neck.  _ I’ll miss you.  _

_ You go. Come back. We fight monsters. _

The simplicity of the horse gave Link comfort. He padded away from the resting animals and back down the path. Illia would be on her way back from Castle Town, and she would find Epona. She would be able to get the goats back to the ranch. 

When Link entered the village again, he spied Rusl, searching the village by torchlight. Link watched him inspect the bodies of the bokoblins that he’d killed, puzzling over the nature of their demise. Link saw the wheels turning in his mind and didn’t want to stay for their conclusions. He put his nose to the ground and picked up Colin’s scent. 

Backtracking yet again to his treehouse, he paused to sort out the scent path, and what could have taken place.

Colin was guarding his house at first, that much was certain. The boy had set up a perimeter and was patrolling based off of the back and forth patterns of his trail. Something caused him to veer off his course though. Something had lured him away. He went on his own accord. The scent was thick and strong. He hadn’t been carried away. Why would he do that? What had he seen? 

The boy’s trail led deeper into the woods. Link recognized his own tracks deep in sloshed mud from just before his snowstorm had turned into a blizzard. He padded onward, trying to stay alert. Before long, the sun was coming up and Link felt the weight of staying up all right. His eyes repeatedly closed as he walked and he had to fight to stay focused. His mind and body were exhausted. He hadn’t gotten much sleep since this started, and he just wanted a short nap before he had to fight again.  _ Stay awake! I need to stay awake! _

Link sang himself a song to keep his mind going. It was an old song he and Fado would sing together as they worked the ranch, carrying water and fixing fences. He’d tried to sing it once for Midna, but she started laughing and wouldn’t stop, any time after that when he felt like singing, he kept it to himself. 

_ All day long on this trail I stride, _

_ No loyal dog to trot by my side; _

_ I roast my dinner with these sticks that I found, _

_ And sleep all night on the cold hard ground. _

_ I wash in a pool and wipe on a sack; _

_ I carry my wardrobe all on my back; _

_ Don’t have an oven, I cook in a pot, _

_ Eat what I found, what I found’s what I got. _

_ And then if my cooking is not very complete _

_ You can’t blame me for wanting to eat. _

_ But show me a man that sleeps more profound _

_ Than the big ranch hand who stretches on the ground. _

_ My ceiling is the sky, my floor is the grass, _

_ My music is the lowing of the herds as they pass; _

_ My books are the brooks, my sermons the stones, _

_ My parson is a wolf on his pulpit of bones. _

The scent path ran to the base of the cliff, and here was where things started getting dicey. There was some confusion as to where Colin wanted to go, and then the trail became alarmingly faint, as if he weren’t walking anymore. Link thought he had lost him, when he found the trail again, up higher. 

Colin had been carried off by something. 

Link had a suspicion who that had been.

_ Stinking Skull Kid. He better be taking care of Colin or I’ll rip his head off. _ Link growled and continued to look for the rest of the trail.

This part took a little longer. He would find a trace of him on a branch here, or on a vine there. He even found one of his sandals, broken off at the clasp. Finally, the trail became a bit more clear as it wound out of the trees. The widened path led up through a dark tunnel. Once again, Link was happy that he had enhanced hearing and smell to navigate through. One or two keese, disturbed by the intruder flew down with claws extended, but Link was ready for them, and dispatched them with ease.

As he came out of the tunnel, he noticed that there were hand-hewn cobbles under his paws. It was unlike any pattern Link had ever seen. Instead of tight blocky stones, the path was crafted with rounded patterns and smoothed edges. Circles were frequent and prominent throughout. The pathway was met with an ancient archway. It was very simple, just blocks stacked on top of each other meeting together at a keystone. However, instead of squared blocks, these were yet again, rounded. Bits of blue paint from long ago still spotted the structure here and there, evidence of it age and lost glory.

Through the archway, Link found more ruins, all with the same circular motif. He found his way to a large set of white stairs. The scent was getting stronger. Link was sure Colin was at the top. He raced to the top and saw a sweeping stage. It stretched back towards three platforms. Resting on the far right was a cage that held Colin.

Link trotted cautiously up to his young friend. He was on high alert. He’d seen too many ancient temples turn into death traps to feel at ease here. This was too convenient. Too quiet. 

Colin was still asleep, resting his fair head on the floor of his small cage. His breathing was slow and steady. At a cursory glance he didn’t seem to be in any pain. The only thing that appeared to be wrong was that the boy was missing one sandal.

Link reached his nose inside and gave the boy a slobbery lick on the cheek.

“Uhhhh… ewww.” Colin rubbed his face, disoriented as he began to open his eyes.

_ Think cute and harmless, think cute and harmless. _ Link put his head in his paws and flattened his ears.

“Where am I… oh no.” Colin groaned, then he saw Link. “Oh no! Go away, I’m not food. Not food.”

_ So much for cute.  _ Link thought.  _ I’ll have to try something else.  _

He pawed open his bag and searched through with his nose, getting his entire head up to his shoulders inside.

_ There… _

He pulled out the fishing pole and put it on the ground between them. 

“That’s Link’s… where did you get that? What did you do to Link!” Colin backed away.

Link shook his head in distress. This wasn’t working. How was he going to get Colin to trust him so that he could get him to safety?

He picked up the fishing rod with his mouth, and awkwardly mimicked casting it. The broken tip flopped comically to the side. He turned to see Colin’s reaction.

The boy was unsure of what he was seeing, staring in confusion at the antics of the dangerous wolf.

_ Come on Colin. Get it! I’m Link! We’re like brothers! _

Link’s attempts to get Colin to trust him were failing. He dropped the pole and sat down in a huff. If only he had grabbed something else that would clue the boy into who he was. He started to dig into his pouch again when he heard a familiar voice.

“Wolf! Yeah! Wolf! Come to play!” 

Immediately Link’s hackles went up. He turned to see the Skull Kid floating at the top of the stairs, his trademark grin painted on his face.

“Yes. You wolf now. I give one thing back. Like promised.”

Before Link could react, Skull Kid had the instrument to his lips and a familiar mist enveloped him. At least it wasn’t the snowstorm.

The mist dissipated, and… nothing.

Skull Kid laughed. “You can speak.”

“I hardly think that I’ll be able to speak, now don’t you think? I’m a wolf. I can’t…” Link had expected to be silent, but to his astonishment, the words formed perfectly with his wolf-tongue. 

The imp stopped laughing and examined his instrument with amazement.

“Gracious Nayru, you didn’t do that on purpose did you?” Link shouted with glee. “You thought the magic instrument would only give me my voice back when I was turned back human right?” Link rolled on the ground with glee. “If only you could see your face!”

The Skull Kid stared at the canine in confusion, which was very similar to every other expression he made.

“Oh boy, this makes everything so much easier.”

“Enough blah, blah, blah. We play now.” The Skull Kid lifted the instrument again and played. This time the wooden puppets came. “Fight wolf, Fight!”

“Well, I do like a good game of fetch.” Link was too happy to oblige and pounced on the wooden leg of the closest puppet. Ripping it off, he flounced around the stage with it. The creepy monsters moved slowly after him. Pausing for a moment, the wolf-hero angled the limb in his mouth and tossed it at the nearest puppet. Unfazed at it’s counterpart’s injury, it continued coming closer.

“Give me a second Colin, and I’ll have you out of that cage in no time.” Link shouted right before he grasped the creature by the throat and ripped it to splinters. 

Skull Kid laughed and clapped his hands with glee. 

“You want to play a game of chase Skull Kid?” Link growled. “How about I come and get you now.” He lunged for the little imp who looked at him with wide eyes and ran. A couple of puppets stood in his way, but he gathered himself, much like Epona would and leapt high above their heads. He landed on the stairs and began to chase the Skull Kid down the pathway. 

“This is what you wanted right Skull Kid?” He huffed.

“No! Go back! I need you back there!” Skull Kid shouted at him, but Link didn’t stop. Skull Kid blew on his horns one more time, and used the puppet distraction to run off into the trees.

“Just what I thought you’d do you stinker.” Link muttered to himself. He used to do that sort of thing with the village kids when he needed a moment. Chasing them for a bit to make them think they were being pursued, and then sneaking off for a nap. Skull Kid must still have enough of a childish mind to believe that Link was after him. Once the hero thought the Skull Kid was far enough away, he turned away from the puppets and zipped towards Colin. 

He arrived panting and paused before Colin’s cage to catch his breath. His distraction worked, but he didn’t know how much time he had.

“Link?” Colin rubbed his eyes and sat up.

Link grinned his wolfie grin, “yeah, it’s me. I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time.”

“Did you just… did you…” Colin scooted to the far side of his cage.

“Yeah. You’re not hearing things.”

Colin looked down at the fishing pole. Without looking at Link, he began to sniff. “You broke it.” 

“Well,” said Link sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to break it. I got to the village and found your mom and sister. There were some bokoblins and…”

“What’s that on your leg?” Colin asked, switching interests suddenly.

Take a kid to fixate on something like that.

“Um…”

“How come you can talk? Was it that thing that you drove off? It was one of those that caught me and put me here.”

“Oh... listen Colin, we need to get out of here before he comes back, ok?” Link urged. He knew Skull Kid wouldn’t be happy after losing his tag buddy twice. He needed to get Colin taken care of before he took care of the coconut head. 

Link sniffed around for an opening. The cage was pretty solid. It was as though it had grown there. 

Colin reached through the cage and brushed Link’s fur as he passed.

Link stepped back startled. “What are you doing?”

“You’re fuzzy.” Colin laughed.

“Stop it. I’m not a pet. I’m a person.” Link rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to figure this cage out. How did you get in it?”

“Well, there were these bokoblins…” Colin didn’t get to explain because at that moment, Skull Kid’s puppets returned, this time using the sides of the ruins. They hadn’t bothered using stairs. “Watch out!” Colin cried.

“They’re no problem.” Link shouted. “I’ve fought these before.” He leapt onto one and ripped it’s head off, jumping from the wooden golem before it even began to collapse, and onto the other’s arm. He was able to toss it off the platform in a manner that reminded Link of tossing a Goron off a Sumo stage. He heard it hit something and shatter.

“There’s more Link!” Colin shouted.

Four more of the summoned puppets rose up the stairs. Down at the bottom stood the Skull Kid. He was no longer smiling, but looked upon Link with malice. He brought his horn to his lips.

Skull Kid played a new tune, a short staccato song in a minor key. The ominous tune had an instantaneous effect. This time, instead of puppets, enormous wooden spikes began to grow outward from the Skull Kid’s position, the magic following the direction of the music, outward and towards Link. With each sharp note came a sharp spear, violently thrusting out of the ground.

“Colin, we need to get out of here now! How do I open the cage?” Link shouted.

The spikes impaled two of the puppets who were too slow to get out of the way. The other two showed no concern, but continued their approach. 

“I don’t know, They just threw me in here and closed the top!” Colin shouted back with concern. “The spikes are coming Link!”

Link jumped on top of the cage. It was also wooden, but seamless. It had some sort of locking mechanism on the edge that looked like it needed three pieces in order to open. 

“Ugh, I don’t have time to figure out puzzles right now.” Link groaned. “I don’t even have fingers to hold anything.” 

One of the puppets was to the cage. Colin bravely tried to grab it’s leg through the bars, but it shook him off. Link watched it climb over the lip, it’s arms wide as it pulled itself to the lid and flopped, legs askew, before effortlessly popping upright, almost as if there really were strings making it stand. The puppet brought its arm back to strike. There was very little room to dodge, but Link didn’t attack either. Instead, he waited until the last moment as the puppet arm arced down and rolled to hang off the edge, allowing the wooden golem to smash into the top of the cage. The middle cracked, and the top was now splinters and a small hole. Enough for Link to work with.

“Thank you wood man, but now I think it’s time for you to leave.” Link said just before he latched on to the puppet’s leg and tossed him across the platform into the approaching spikes.

“Hang in there Colin, I think it will only take a little more pressure right Here!”

He pounced on the weak spot and smashed through, onto the boy.

“Oh get off, you are huge.” Colin pushed at him.

Link laughed and licked his face.

“Hey, I thought you said you weren’t a pet.” Colin wiped the slobber off of his face and crawled out from underneath the wolf. “Sheesh.”

Wolf Link laughed again, happy that he was finally going to do something good and get him back to Rusl. “Climb on my back and I’ll jump out of here. Don’t worry about pulling on the fur.”

Colin climbed on, but before they could get any further, Skull Kid appeared at the bars. Without a word, the imp pressed his face against them, watching with a grin.

“Hold tight Colin.” Link gathered himself, but just as he was about to jump, three wooden spikes shot over the top of the cage, covering the hole. Their escape was blocked.

Colin scrambled back down, and Link placed himself between him and Skull Kid, a wolf growl emanating from his throat.

“You didn’t play my games.” Skull Kid pouted. Two of his puppets floated nearby, waiting for his command.

“I don’t like your games Skull Kid. You try to kill me. I don’t want to be killed.” Link explained. “Besides I’m just here for my young friend here, and then I’m going home.”  _ And getting Zelda to put up a magic barrier to prevent you from coming to Ordon Village ever again, _ Link thought.

The imp looked confused. It was like it had never considered it’s games dangerous before.

“Humf. You don’t like these?” He gestured towards the puppets. You don’t want to be dead?”

“NO, I don’t want to be dead! Why would anyone want that?” Link shuffled his paws, anxious to be away from the deranged being.

“If we done with game, we go home.” Skull Kid said enthusiastically. 

“What a great idea Skull Kid! Yes, just open this up and we’ll just go home. I’ll come and play another time.”

“Not you. Me go home.” Skull Kid looked up and pointed at the morning sky. There was a dim sliver of a crescent moon in the sky. “You get me home.”

“The moon? You live on the moon?”

Skull kid just stared at him.

Um… I don’t know how to get you to the moon Skull Kid.” Link shrugged. “Only the City in the Sky, and I don’t know if I’d actually trust that cannon to get me there anymore.”

Skull Kid brought the instrument to his mouth.

Link felt Colin grab a chunk of his fur in fear. He had to do something. “Whoa no! I don’t want to die, remember? Let’s see if we can get you to the moon another way, right?” Link reasoned. “Hey, I know. Why don’t you let my friend here go home, and then we’ll work on that problem together? Colin doesn’t need to go to the moon with us.” Link wished he could put an arm around the boy, but he opted for leaning into him instead. “You’ll see I’m pretty good at figuring out things. Did you see me work the puzzle to get to the sword? I figured that out in no time at all.”

Skull Kid wasn’t buying it. “You took long time. I fell asleep.” 

“But I figured it out. Nobody else did. We can find another way!” Link’s mind was working overtime. There had to be a way to get Colin out and home safely, but Skull Kid wasn’t willing to give him any more time. 

“I try other way. They broken.” Skull Kid glared at Link.

“There has to be something.” Link continued, knowing that Skull Kid was not having it.

“No. No. No. Only this work for me.” Skull Kid yelled. “Ghosts on moon use stones, but I not ghost. Enough talk talk talk.” He jabbed a finger at Link and Colin. “Boy Light. Wolf Dark. Me Moon. Make it work. Ancient magic work to get us home! My Way Now!” He played a sharp jarring note on his horn and a long thin spike shot out and struck Link in the side, penetrating through so that the tip stuck out the other side. 

“Link!” Colin shouted as the canine hero fell to the floor. The child tentatively touched the large barb, horrified at the gruesome wound.

Link was shocked. His body had frozen on him and his nerves refused to acknowledge that he was even hurt. He knew it was bad, but his nerves were stunned. During his adventures, he had been burned, drowned, stabbed, shot, and everything in between, but nothing this serious. Was he really going to die in the hands of this… this… child? 

“Link are you ok?”

“I’m… I’ll be ok Colin.” Link told him. Though he knew otherwise. 

“What do I do? How can I help?”

“Colin…” Link could feel his heart thumping in his head. He vaguely noticed the Skull Kid move to the middle dias, watching with his blank wicked eyes.

From the top of Colin’s cage, the malevolent puppets ripped off the spikes and two of the creatures reached down to pick up Link. To his credit, Link stood shakily, his breathing labored and his eyes unfocused. He leapt at the first puppet, knocking it and it’s companion to the ground by the vault. Once he had mauled it to pieces, he faltered. The pain was beginning to register. His body was shutting down.

“Link, stop, you’ll make it worse!” Colin sobbed.

_ What was it Rusl told me? I am not a short horse. I know that I can do this on my own. I can protect those I love. Skull Kid wasn’t even hard the first time I fought him. He was a pushover. This can’t be it for me. _

He would fight to his last breath protecting his friend.

With all of the energy he had left, Link clamped his powerful jaw onto the wooden leg of the other puppet. It squirmed and tried to shuffle away, but he held on. Their game of tug-o-war ended when the monster’s arm came down and hit the spike, slamming on the wound and causing Link to falter and yelp.

Immediately, the puppet reached down, picked up the wounded wolf and threw him onto the third empty platform.

Link lay still, the seconds felt like hours. Each breath harder than the last. This was it then. He was going to die here.  _ Sorry Colin, I didn’t get you home. I hope you can manage without me. Perhaps your father can manage to find you. Perhaps you will remain in the forest and turn into a Skull Kid yourself. I have failed. _

The air began to swirl around the platform. Link managed to open his eyes to squint and saw a funnel of light and air swirl down towards him. He felt his body lift into the sky, and the ground below get smaller and smaller. The trees became a mass of green that divided itself from the lighter colors of the Hyrule provinces surrounding it. Were they going to the moon then? This mode of travel was more pleasant than being shot into the sky by a cannon. 

If he weren’t in so much pain, the hero would have thought he was dead. Was he dead though? Perhaps the pain of death follows one into the afterlife. Perhaps there was no release like everyone thought. He pushed that horrifying notion away as he found himself placed onto another platform, identical to the one he’d just left, as gently as a feather settling onto the ground. 

“Link. Link!” 

It was Colin. Link opened his eyes, but his vision was so blurry that he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. He appeared to be before a bright field, full of spring grass and flowers. Tall trees grew far in the distance, though it seemed eerily silent. Far across the field he could see figures running towards them. 

One blurr of green was faster than all of the rest and slid to a stop in front of Link’s platform. He was pulling what appeared to be yellow ears off of his head as he reached his hand down to check Link’s breathing. He flung his pouch off of his shoulder and pulled out a bottle of blue liquid.

“Oh cub. I didn’t expect to see you so soon. What have you done to yourself?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading this! It's so nice to just write once and a while. I know I have a long way to go, but it's fun anyway!
> 
> Also, if this weren’t fanfiction, I probably would just cut the horse scene out. I love the scene, but it kind of slows the pacing a bit. However, the young horse girl in me, HAS to keep the anthropomorphic horse bits in, and I love the idea that deep down, Epona will always have a bit of ranch horse in her. 
> 
> I appropriated bits of an old cowboy song named... well, “The Cowboy” for Link's song. It remains pretty close to the real song, but there are a few stanzas I changed.


	7. Man in the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda has been dealing with disaster after disaster. What will she do when one more knocks at her door?

The throne room was finally quiet again. Zelda sat on the steps holding her crown in her hands, examining how beautiful, yet heavy it was. 

How did it get to this point? She had ruled Hyrule for three years with only minimal problems, and now she faced two disasters in a row. This one she wasn’t sure if Hyrule would survive.

All day long she received report after report of devastation and gloom. It was the same everywhere. Farmers in the upper Lanayru Province, who hadn’t been hit hard by the Twilight invasion, reported crop losses of 80-90 percent. Rice and wheat shriveled in the cold. Blossoms had been blown away. Livestock had been lost, frozen beyond recovery. Buildings had been damaged and several important structures were in dire need of repair.

Her worries about the Zora were confirmed when she discovered that the storm had reached their domain. Luckily, the volcanic boulder Link and Midna had moved was still warm and Prince Ralis had managed to get his people to safety. They were not happy when Zelda told them where the storm had originated from. 

Yet another thing to patch up. Zelda sighed.

With this amount of devastation, the kingdom of Hyrule would be ruined. She would have to go to their neighbors to the north or west to ask for assistance. With the current state of their relationship, assistance would come at a price. A steep price.

“Your Majesty?” The soldier watching over her queried. He had stood through most of the day as well, listening to bad news pour in. He knew what stress she was under.

“I’m fine Raul, you can get someone else to relieve you. I will head to the library before I retire. I’m going to research one more thing before I’m done for the night.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” His words were heavy with exhaustion. “I will send for the night guard.”

Zelda stopped by her room and changed out of her fancy clothes. The servants were sent home to their families to help them recover, so she climbed into her white nightgown herself and put a flowing robe over top. There was no reason for her to dress up for a meeting with a pile of scrolls.

“A magical malady needs a magical cure. Perhaps the people who brought us this disaster can repair the damage it has done.”

She went to the shelves again and pulled off the blue edged scroll she’d found on the beings from the Moon. Unrolling it, she traced the runes that earlier she had only skimmed. Autotrophica, Frontimy, Sound Spells and Transformation. 

Transformation was easy to decipher. Illustrations dancing around the rune showed images of rabbit-like creatures turning into people. The moon people had magic to change their shape. Link might like that. He was the beast-hero after all. She propped her elbow on the table and rested her sleepy head on her hand. 

Sound Spells were obvious as well. There were several magical instruments used to unlock or cast certain spells. She herself had two such items and there were locations all around Hyrule that had been built with music as a magical key. According to the composer, the Skull Kid’s instrument was originally from the moon. Perhaps there had been more contact with the Moon people in Hyrule’s history than she had assumed.

Frontimy would have been troublesome, but there was a glyph of a person breathing out a cloud, and connecting it with Link’s storm, she figured that Frontimy meant control of the weather.

Autotrophica… or was it Autosilva? She could be wrong. The ink on the scroll was faded. She held it up to the dim firelight, trying to read an impression. That could be an arm there? No, it had three hands. No, not hands. It was a plant. 

Her heart skipped a beat. Plants? That was what she needed right now. Magic for plants. If she had this magic, perhaps they could recover their crops and Hyrule wouldn’t have to go begging on their hands and knees to the far countries. 

She studied the scroll some more, begging it to release more secrets. There might be something that she had thought was a smudge, but it was so dim. Zelda stood up and walked closer to the fire. As she studied the text, light began to pour out from the back of her hand. The piece of the triforce was glowing. 

Zelda set down the scroll and gazed around the room, trying to see what it was responding to. 

She tiptoed around, highly aware of everything around her. As she approached the large stone at the end of the room, the smooth rock flared began pulsing with white light. 

“Someone is knocking”, she murmured. 

She retrieved her flute from it’s shelf and blew into it a few times before starting the lullabye. As she played, she absorbed the song, swaying in time to the beat. As the last note faded, the princess held her breath. There was no change. The stone continued to thrum expectantly. Zelda lowered the flute and examined her hand. What did it want?

She cocked her head and looked at the rock. What was on the other side? It definitely wasn’t the triforce of power. She and Midna had made sure his body was magically bound. It would take millenia before he could try and resurrect himself, and she was sure his form wouldn’t be that strong either. 

What else was there? The triforce of courage? Link? 

She gasped and stared at the pulsing rock. Only spirits could use this rock as a portal. If it truly was Link on the other side, then was the hero… dead?

Zelda gulped. Whatever was there needed her to find a way to open the door. She wracked her brain. What other magical songs did she know might possibly work? 

There was one. If the spirit on the other side was indeed Link, this song may work. It was definitely more complicated than the lullabye though, and she would have to take it slow.

She started with a low B, then dipped down to hit two lower Fs, then back to a B. As the song progressed, the light from the stone increased, but her heart sank lower. She was playing the Hero’s song. It wasn’t one usually used to incite magic, but to honor the hero. Her slow rendering of the song made it feel more like a funeral dirge. She hoped so much that she was wrong.

The song finished and the light flared, causing her to hold her arm in front of her eyes. As the light dimmed, she glanced up and clenched her fists in fear. The being that emerged from the stone was as frightening as any demon she had seen. It’s fleshless face fixed on her from underneath it’s battle damaged helmet, it’s mismatched eyes expressionless.

“Link?” Zelda choked on the word. The spirit cocked it’s head in a manner, which was like Link, which caused Zelda to wonder, but there was something more to this spectre. It didn’t feel like Link.

She approached the being with trepidation, eyeing the sword and shield in it’s hand, but the spirit gave no motion to strike. In fact, he placed the tip downward and leaned on the sword, waiting for her to finish her inferences. She circled around him, while he stared forward.

Zelda mumbled to herself as she went, just loud enough that the spirit could hear.

“Your shield and helmet seem to be Ikana, your chestplate Watarara, but I can’t seem to place the sword. ”

The shade nodded, seeming to chuckle, though it sounded far away, “you wouldn’t know it. There has never been any record of its people in Hyrule. Everything else was correct though. You do your ancestor proud. ”

Zelda wove in front of the warrior. “What I don’t understand is this.” She held up her hand, and the triforce on it flashed in the presence of the spirit.. The shade stepped back, shield arm automatically raising in response. 

When she didn’t advance he relaxed once more, but continued to fix his gaze on her mark. “It knows who I am, your majesty. It’s responding to the past.”

“You know it and respect it. You say my triforce responds to the past, I will respond too.”

Zelda took up her robes and lowered herself into a deep curtsey. “We are all at your debt, Sir Hero.”

The shade cast his red gaze upwards. “There are not many who would think that of me, princess. I have not been the hero the legends would have me be.”

Zelda straightened. “Then we are forged from the same hand. There are many who deny that I played my role wisely.” She sighed, “we have not recovered from the consequences of what that great evil did with the triforce of power. Hyrule is still in danger of crumbling in ruins.”

The shade nodded. “Troubles are never ending. Even in death we have our work to do. That is why I am here. I have come to ask you for help.”

All day long, Zelda had been hearing the same sentiments, in myriads of different words, but the same meaning. “Help us.” “We need food.” “What can we do?” “We request assistance.” Now she heard the words again. There was someone who requested aid once more. She was Zelda, princess and ruler of Hyrule. She was compelled to answer.

She nodded towards the spectre, holding her arms at her sides. “What has happened that requires a great man to rise from the dead and come to me for aid?”

“I have come with news,” he began. “Link is in trouble.”

Zelda’s demeanor changed. She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Someone needs to give that boy a task. He’s already in trouble with me when he gets back here. What has he done this time?”

The spectre went on. “He was unwillingly transported to my home. He came with a young boy that I believe is from Link’s village.” 

“Your home? You mean they’re dea...”

“I didn’t say the land of the dead.” The shade interrupted. “He and the child are in the inbetween space, the moon, which is where all lands connect. It is there I have lived for many years.”

Zelda recalled the music conductor lecturing her about the journey he’d had to make to get to Hyrule. The spirit had talked about walking through an expansive world of verdant green that was like a terminal between worlds. So, Hyrule’s moon was this world between worlds. She would never look at it the same way again. But why was the Hero of Time there and not with the other spirits in the afterlife? Why was he not honored with a triumphant death?

She clasped her hands in front of her. “It may be rude of me to ask, but why aren’t you in the land of the dead? Surely you deserve a rest. Surely one who has beaten Gannondorf and the evil that resides in him can go beyond to the fields of honor and be with those who have earned the glory?”

This broke the spectre's stare, and he turned his head away from the princess. “My life was tied to the triforce, and now my death is as well. It is my role to assist the hero with his work in Hyrule. Once he is… finished, that is when I may finally go to my rest. When your Link’s days in Hyrule are finished, his spirit in turn will wait for the next hero, so that he may pass on his knowledge. Such has been the way of the triforce of courage.” He sounded bitter and broken, a man tired of waiting.

Zelda felt sorrow fill her heart. She had heard this hero’s story, and wanted to scream how unfair it was. “That will happen with Link too then? When he dies, he will just linger in this, in this space? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“He will move on… eventually. Once he has passed on his strength, he will be free.” The shade said somberly. “But Link is in trouble. When I found him, he was grievously injured. He had been transported by a forest spirit who nearly killed him. We attempted to heal him, but something went wrong. While his injuries were mostly healed, his spirit is trying to stay. His connection to the triforce is fading. If we don’t get him back to Hyrule soon, I’m afraid we won’t get him back at all.”

“But if he is staying, what of you?”

The shade held his right hand out to her. Part of it was fading. “I too am moving on.”

Zelda nodded. “So he needs to get back to Hyrule and you come to me. There is something you need. Something only I can get. Something only a person with the triforce can get. I’m assuming it is the sword that Link has carelessly lost?” 

“You surmise correctly. Though in order to return Link I need two items and the sword of evil’s bane is the easy one to obtain. The other will not be as forthcoming.”

“Oh?”

“When I was on the earth, I used an item to travel far across Hyrule. I need you to get this for me.”

  
  


The Hero of Time walked through the spirit door, back into a field of green. He reached up and took off the mask he was wearing, an Ikana Spirit Hat that had formerly belonged to Captain Keeta. He used it as a child and thought that he would never see it again, but there it had been, with the moon people. It had come in handy once more, hopefully for the last time. 

He looked at his fading hand. Opening and closing the fingers. Oh how he yearned to leave this station and see his friends and family again. If he had only just kept quiet, young Link would pass and he would be free.

He began the long trudge back to the Blupee’s city with a sigh. He knew in his heart that he never would have been at peace if he made a selfish decision like that. Besides, what were a few more decades in light of the thousand he’d already waited?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you write 100 words a day, you will finish your novel... but it will take a long time. Keep writing my friends!
> 
> Also, if you play the flute, play along with Zelda! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7HmP_SPC3A (I do not play the flute, so if I get the notes wrong let me know.)
> 
> Edit: Sorry, my daughter pointed out that I had messed up a part. It should read a little better!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I'm new to this, and would love someone to give me pointers! It's asking a lot to post something when I'm used to just telling my kids stories. Thanks!
> 
> There may be some rattling around of our protagonist in future chapters, and I'm not sure how graphic is graphic. It won't be worse than the game, but that was rated T.


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